The View‘s Sunny Hostin Confronts Texas Salon Owner Jailed for Defying Lockdown Order: You Took $18,000 in PPP Funds

The View held an engaging conversation on Monday with Shelley Luther, the Dallas salon owner who has drawn public interest over her refusal to comply with Texas’ coronavirus shutdown.

Luther became an icon to lockdown protesters last week when she opened her salon before the Lone Star state started rolling back social distancing restrictions amid the pandemic. She was ordered to a week in jail for contempt of court after refusing to apologize or pay a fine, though she was released after just two days, and she garnered support from numerous conservative figures since then.

As Luther shared her story with the show, she said she was compliant with the state lockdown at first, but she spoke about how difficult it was for her and her staff to file for unemployment benefits.

“Government help was not coming, and no one was really even replying to any SBA loans that we were applying for,” she said. “You couldn’t get through, the website was crashing.”

Sunny Hostin eventually noted that Luther did receive a federal loan, even though Luther has claimed that it only came through for her on Sunday.

“You applied for small business loans and unemployment, and you did receive some aid from the government. You received $18,000,” Hostin said. “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 acknowledged Hostin’s concern, but she retorted that the court date had already been settled by the time the loan came in and she didn’t know what to make of it when was placed into her bank account.

There was $18,000 dropped in my bank account with no notice of what it was. So I get no instructions. I think it’s one of the loans, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to spend it, what I’m supposed to spend it on. I know there’s guidelines and regulations to that, and I didn’t want to put myself in deeper debt by spending it the wrong way, you know, and also having to close the salon. So until I got further instruction on that, I didn’t want to spend it, and giving me $18,000 to spend when my stylists are actual employees of mine, they’re actually subleasing. 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.

Watch above, via ABC.

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