The San Francisco salon owner, who House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has accused of setting her up after she was caught visiting the facility without a mask to get her hair done last week, has received more than $300,000 in donations in just one week.
The donations will help Erica Kious relocate her salon to somewhere outside of San Francisco, according to the GoFundMe page.
It has become necessary for Kious and her family to move due to the constant stream of threats she and her business have received since she exposed Pelosi’s hypocrisy, Kious explained.
“ALL donations will go directly to Erica to pay off any debts from the business that she is forced to shut down, expenses to relocate and reopen in a new location,” the page, which was set up by a friend of Kious, states.
The outpouring of support has reminded her that “common things that bind us all together as Americans are far more meaningful and lasting than political and ideological differences that get so much attention and focus,” Kious said.
“I wish I could personally thank every person who sent me their prayers, words of encouragement and support, especially at a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet in their own lives,” she said in a statement.
After Pelosi was caught visiting the salon illegally, she tried, without evidence, to claim that Kious had “set her up.”
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of a neighborhood salon that I’ve been to over the years many times, and that when they said that we’re able to accommodate people one person at a time and that we could set up that time, I trusted that. As it turns out, it was a set up. So I take responsibility for falling for the set up,” she said during a press conference.
Kious has denied Pelosi’s allegations, and she told Fox News that Pelosi’s lies have triggered thousands of “death threats” directed towards her and her business.
“Since this happened, I’ve received nothing but hate, text messages, death threats. My Yelp page is just unbelievable with bad reviews,” she said. “It’s sad that my community is pulling this … saying that I threw her under the bus when I didn’t.”
