Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, has reportedly asserted that she was “set up” after she faced flak for reportedly not wearing her mask inside an indoor salon in San Francisco and getting her hair blow-dried, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Further, according to The Guardian, she said “I take responsibility for falling for a setup.”
WHAT HAD HAPPENED?
According to The Guardian, salons in San Francisco have not been operational owing to the pandemic, with limited outdoor operations, which began only on Tuesday, 1 September.
Peolsi, reportedly the most powerful Democrat in Washington, has regularly advocated the usage of masks and asked US citizens to adhere to the COVID-19-related guidelines.
Therefore, when security camera footage, procured by Fox News, emerged and Pelosi could be spotted in the salon with the mask strung around her neck, instead of firmly clasped against her face, it triggered outrage.
The salon’s owner Erica Kious reportedly said to Fox News: “It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work.”
“We have been shut down for so long, not just me, but most of the small businesses and I just can’t – it’s a feeling … of being deflated, helpless and honestly beaten down.”Erica Kious to Fox News
According to The Guardian, Kious said that by her interpretation of COVID-19-related safety precautions, blow-drying hair was also not allowed.
She also said that she has been fighting for six months for reopening a business that took her 12 years to build.
“I am a single mom, I have two small children, and I have no income. We’re supposed to look up to this woman, right? It is just disturbing.”Kious, according to Fox News.
TRUMP’S JIBE
US President Donal Trump referred to Nancy Pelosi as “crazy” and said that she was “being decimated for having a beauty parlor opened, when all others are closed, and for not wearing a mask – despite constantly lecturing everyone else”.
PELOSI’S RESPONSE
Pelosi’s spokesman, Drew Hammier, according to The Guardian, said:
“This business offered for the Speaker to come in on Monday and told her they were allowed by the city to have one customer at a time in the business…The speaker complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment.”
Further, Pelosi, in her response said, “I think that this salon owes me an apology for setting me up.”
According to the report, Pelosi also claimed that she had been inundated with comments of from people in the hair service industry, thanking her “for calling attention to this” and saying “we need to get back to work.”
Pelosi said that many were annoyed at the setup and alleged “that was there for a purpose that has nothing to do with ending the crisis.”
In answer to why her mask was around around her neck, Pelosi said:
“(I) just had my hair washed. I don’t wear a mask when I’m washing my hair. Do you wear a mask when you’re washing your hair? I always wear a mask … And that picture is when I just came out of the bowl.”
(With inputs from The Guardian)
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