House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office is responding to criticism after she got her hair done inside a San Francisco salon, amid a citywide coronavirus restrictions on salons.
A statement from her office acknowledges Pelosi and her staff relied on the informationprovided by someone at the salon about what was allowed by the new city regulations that went into effect last Friday, according tomultiple outlets.
The statement came after Fox News shareda video showing Pelosi inside the salon. Fox talked to the salon’s owner, Erica Kious, who told the news outlet, “it was a slap in the face” that Pelosi could go in and “get her stuff done” while the owner and others can’t work.
Kious said it was an independent stylist who rents a chair from her.
"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," Pelosi's Deputy Chief of Staff Drew Hammill said in the statement. "The speaker complied with the rules as presented to her by this establishment."
The statement also says Pelosi wore a mask except for a brief time when she was getting her hair washed.
The new restrictions in San Francisco say hair salons can operate outdoors, and that some procedures, like color and chemical treatments, still cannot be done.