MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said TV stations refused to let him appear in his commercials
LOS ANGELES - MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell claims he has been prohibited from appearing in some of his company's commercials.
"I had 12 TV stations just the other day now say that I couldn't be in the commercials. I cannot personally be in them," Lindell said during an interview with the Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) on Saturday.
Lindell, a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, did not say specifically which stations had stopped him from appearing but called them "smaller networks."
"They want my voice stopped," Lindell said. He added that he had only heard the news about his appearance ban the day before.
"Believe me, they cancel, they will never get to sell my product again," he said.
During the interview, Lindell also said that customers who buy his pillow products were in a unique situation because they "were supporting getting rid of" the voting machines "[and] everything we're doing to save our country," while also getting a "good product."
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Lindell is a distinctly Trump-era figure. Just a few years ago, he was best known for campy late-night infomercials to sell his pillows, and for his frequently told back story of overcoming crack cocaine addiction. He said he wasn’t political until he met Trump in 2016, connected with a fellow businessman and soon became a vocal Trump true believer and donor.
By his own estimate, Lindell was a warm-up speaker at more than 60 Trump campaign rallies, drawing frequent shout-outs from the president and co-chairing Trump’s Minnesota campaign.
As the coronavirus crisis deepened, Lindell caught flak in August for championing the unproven treatment of oleander after investing in a company that produced a compound from it.
Then, after the election, Lindell shared Trump’s refusal to accept Biden as the winner. Many of his claims about the outcome were labeled by Twitter as disputed. He posted but later deleted a tweet in December calling on Trump to declare martial law and seize the ballots and voting machines in seven key states. While he said he opposed the Capitol insurrection, MyPillow’s logo was prominently featured on a website that promoted the Jan. 6 Trump rally that preceded the riot. Lindell has claimed "antifa" was responsible for the riot, even though authorities say there’s no evidence of that. He said he’s still holding out hope that the U.S. Supreme Court would somehow put Trump back in office.
Lindell has continued to push bogus claims of election fraud since Trump’s loss to Biden in the presidential race. MyPillow’s logo was also prominently featured on TrumpMarch.com, a website that promoted the Jan. 6 events in Washington, in which rioters stormed the Capitol.
Lindell said he doesn’t regret his election claims or his support of Trump, who he said he first met in 2016.
"I stand for what’s right," said Lindell, who created the MyPillow in 2004 and built the business in Chaska, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis. "I’m standing firm."
Aside from the retail pressure, Lindell is also facing potential litigation from Dominion Voting Systems for his accusations that their voting machines played a role in election fraud. The Washington Post reported that Dominion sent Lindell a letter earlier this month stating that they would pursue legal action against him.
Lindell said he’s conducted his own investigation into the voting machines and hopes Dominion will file its suit quickly so that "all the evidence can come out."
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.