California beauty group ‘appalled at the hypocrisy’ of Pelosi’s hair salon visit
A group that has lobbied Gov. Gavin Newsom to relax statewide COVID-19 restrictions on the personal service sector is blasting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she was captured on video at an indoor hair salon without a mask.
“Our entire industry was appalled at the hypocrisy and flaunting of lockdown orders displayed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, yesterday. How dare our rulers go about their lives, maskless and in open defiance of the rules they have imposed upon our state licensed beauty professionals!” the Professional Beauty Federation said in a statement.
Fred Jones, counsel for the federation, said that there is “a deeper implication” to Pelosi’s visit; that an 80-year-old woman with access to incredible amounts of information felt comfortable being maskless in a hair salon.
“That clearly challenges the public pronouncements of these so-called health experts who have never provided any data or science justifying locking our industry down for six months,” Jones said.
Jones said that state COVID-19 restrictions unfairly target the working class personal service sector over other industries with more political influence.
“We are starting to believe that the personal service sectors ... because we are the quintessential small businesses who lack political clout have become the sacrificial lambs that the health experts are sacrificing as a means of trying to show the public they’re combating COVID,” Jones said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom last week set guidelines for cities to decide whether to allow salons to take customers in doors. Some cities and counties are permitting indoor haircuts to resume.
Pelosi visited a salon in San Francisco, which has not allowed hair stylists to see customers indoors because of the coronavirus outbreak. Fox News published security footage of her visit on Tuesday, and President Donald Trump has mocked her on Twitter over the video.
Pelosi on Tuesday called the move by the salon “a set up” and said that the salon owes her an apology, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
“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,” she said.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 2:08 PM with the headline "California beauty group ‘appalled at the hypocrisy’ of Pelosi’s hair salon visit."