Caught on Cam: Pastor under fire for hate speech at Chevy Chase nail salon

CHEVY CHASE, Md. (7News) — Relaxation was hard to find inside the Gloss Time Salon in Chevy Chase, Maryland on the afternoon of Sunday, Sept. 18.

Salon owner John Tran explained client Arlene Hudson arrived for a 3 p.m. manicure with her adult daughter. The salon did not have her in the computer appointment system and did not have the staff to fit the mother and daughter in, prompting a fiery exchange that was caught on camera.

"And yes! I am angry because I have an appointment and how dare they do that to me! And you’re f****** a** should have minded your business," Hudson shouted at a female customer who tried to intervene. “I see you don’t have that fat f****** mouth now. Fat f****** b****. You’re a fat f****** b**** and the rest of you mother*******, go back to Vietnam. You a*******.”

Hudson, who is a local pastor, then stormed out of the business located along the 5400 block of Friendship Boulevard.

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“No human being should be treated that way," Tran told 7News. “She feels like she has power. Just because she has power or money doesn’t mean she should talk to people that way.”

Pastor Hudson told 7News via Zoom that she knows multiple languages and claims she overheard the two female employees use the N-word in Vietnamese.

“I can read and write French and Spanish and then I can understand Asian communication," Hudson said. "People who are listening to this. I don’t have their dialect and different things like that. I just know it when I hear it.”

Tran is adamant that his workers never used the N-word. He told 7News that he just wants peace.

“The most I can do is just bar her off the property and not let her come back," he said. "We don’t want to trigger anybody, but we felt so downgraded when she said those things. And it hurts.”

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Pastor Hudson provided 7News with a screenshot of an automated text message confirming her manicure for 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 18. However, Tran said he has no record of his salon sending her that text. Tran believes the pastor edited or photoshopped the screenshot she sent 7News.