The Texas salon owner who was sentenced to seven days in jail last week for refusing to close her business amid the novel coronavirus pandemic was released Thursday following a state Supreme Court ruling. According to court documents, Shelley Luther was taken into custody on Wednesday and fined $3,500 for ignoring a temporary restraining order that prohibited her business from operating while a statewide stay-at-home order was in place. Orders to release Luther followed a modification in Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order in which Abbott removed “confinement as a punishment for violating the order,” BuzzFeed News reported.
“Throwing Texans in jail who have had their businesses shut down through no fault of their own is nonsensical, and I will not allow it to happen,” Abbott said in a statement on Wednesday. “That is why I am modifying my executive orders to ensure confinement is not a punishment for violating an order.” Abbot’s order allowed salons and barbershops to reopen on May 8.
Luther’s case gained quite a following. After her arrest, Texas Republicans demanded her immediate release. The local salon owner has attended a number of anti-lockdown protests, garnering support from residents and Republicans who consider her an “American Hero.” Some even volunteered to pay her fines in addition to contributing to a GoFundMe that raised approximately $500,000 before being removed from the site.
Conservative icons, including Sen. Ted Cruz, went to her salon for a cut following her return. Cruz had formerly tweeted that the decision to jail Luther was “nuts” and criticized the judge for a requesting an apology for Luther’s selfish behavior. Wearing a face mask, Cruz got the ugliest haircut anyone has ever seen on Friday. The Republican said this was his first cut for three months and he traveled all the way to Dallas to have it done. (Judging by the way it looks now, he’s going to want to grow it for another three months.) "Hair salons & barbershops are open in TX today. Just got my hair cut for first time in 3 months at Salon ALa Mode to support Shelley Luther, who was wrongly imprisoned when she refused to apologize for trying to earn a living," Cruz tweeted Friday. "Glad Shelley is out of jail & her business is open!"
Luther told CBS News that the support she was receiving was not political but given with “true authenticity.” Other “celebrities” in Luther’s eyes also paid her a visit, including former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin."We don't know what to do with all of these celebrities coming in lately. I missed Mrs. Palin when I was held up for a little couple days," Luther told Cruz.
Of course, Donald Trump didn’t want to be left out of jumping on the Republican bandwagon of praise for those who put others in harm’s way. In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump called Judge Eric Moyé, who presided over Luther’s case, a “terrible judge” while applauding Luther for being an “incredible representative” for Americans who wish to return to work.
But while Luther claims she had “no choice” but to stay open and is being applauded by conservatives nationwide for her “selfless” act of defying the government to feed her family, many are forgetting that she did in fact receive government funding. During her court hearing, Luther argued that she had to stay open in order to feed her children in addition to supporting the hairstylists she had who “are going hungry because they’d rather feed their kids.”
While Luther stood strong in her stance that her actions were unselfish and she needed to provide her workers with financial support, she later admitted on ABC’s The View that she received stimulus funds prior to her hearing. “You applied for small business loans and unemployment, and you did receive some aid from the government,” said The View host Sunny Hostin. “You received $18,000 from the government.” Hostin added: “So I understand why people feel so strongly about going back to work because they feel that the government isn’t doing its job and taking care of people, but in this instance, two days before you went to court, the money went into your account. So I’m troubled by that.”
Luther replied that while she understood why some may feel troubled by this revelation, she was unsure what to do with the money, claiming it appeared in her bank account with no instructions. Luther’s lie could not be more obvious—the funds were received from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which distributes funds based on how many employees a business has and what their salaries are. Applicants must declare the information themselves during the vigorous application process, and it’s clearly explained what the funds can be used for. But of course, despite applying for the loan and certifying she understood the terms while doing so, Luther claimed she did not want to spend the money until she was sure how to do so without going into debt.
In addition, Luther added that the very hairstylists who she argued in court that she was supporting by staying open are not actually her employees. “And giving me $18,000 to spend when my stylists aren’t actual employees of mine, they’re actually subleasing,” she said. “So I wasn’t sure if I was even able to give them any of that money as employees because I don’t pay them.”
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the PPP program is designed for businesses to keep workers on the payroll. Employers are encouraged to apply for the loan in order to pay employees for at least eight weeks amid the current crisis, and the employers are rewarded with loan forgiveness for doing so. If Luther really does not have any employees, why did she receive $18,000 for a loan that represents at least 75% of employees’ salaries? As Luther’s lies continue, we wonder which Republican will come to her defense next.