‘It’s a freedom tree, everybody!’
A group of women held a protest outside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) San Francisco home on Thursday, stringing a tree outside with hair dryers and chanting about freedom as the Democrat faces backlash for being busted in a salon in violation of the city’s coronavirus restrictions while citizens are prohibited from doing so.
What are the details?
In footage taken by local CBS affiliate KPIX-TV, the demonstrators can be seen hanging blow dryers, an American flag, and other adornments from the tree to create their display. Some of them wore rollers in their hair, and one can be heard declaring, “It’s a freedom tree, everybody!”
KPIX producer Bobby Tooke posted the footage on Twitter, reporting, “Protestors gather outside of @SpeakerPelosi house in #SanFrancisco. They chant about freedom and place hair dryers on a tree.”
Meantime – Jonathan Denardo, Pelosi’s hair stylist, is backing the claim that Kious set the whole thing up. Through his lawyer, Denardo says the salon owner Kious approved the appointment and had been violating the health order for months before Pelosi’s visit. @KPIXtv
— Bobby Tooke (@BobbyKPIX) September 4, 2020
Another clip of the protest shared by the San Francisco Chronicle shows a demonstrator telling the group, …”To gather, to make sure everybody has an opportunity to earn a living and feed their families.” The women then cheer and another adds, “The government needs to stay out of it.”
Reporter Jessica Christian tweeted, “None of these demonstrators in front of Nancy Pelosi’s home are salon owners or workers. They’ve all described themselves ‘angry salon customers’ who want to get their hair and nails done.”
Demonstrators have formed a hand-holding circle around a tree with blow dryers and hair curlers hanging in front of Nancy Pelosi’s SF home @sfchronicle pic.twitter.com/9MsXqdZjhy
— Jessica Christian (@jachristian) September 3, 2020
Pelosi was caught visiting eSalon in San Francisco on Monday during an appointment solicited by her assistant with a stylist who rents a chair from the salon that has been shut down for months due to the city’s stringent coronavirus regulations. The owner of eSalon, Erica Kious, called Pelosi’s actions a “slap in the face,” saying her business would likely not survive due to local regulations imposed by Democratic leaders.
The speaker’s salon visit — which was first reported by Fox News — drew widespread backlash, but Pelosi was defiant when asked about it on Wednesday, blaming the salon and calling for them to apologize to her.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to over the years many times,” Pelosi told reporters. “And that when they said ‘We’re able to accommodate people one person at a time’ and that we can set up that time, I trusted that. As it turns out, it was a setup, so I take responsibility for falling for a setup.”
She insisted, “I think that this salon owes me an apology, for setting [me] up.”
Author: Breck Dumas
Source: The Blaze: Protesters hang hair dryers on tree outside Pelosi’s house amid salon uproar