- Dominion Voting Systems sued MyPillow and its CEO, Mike Lindell, for defamation and is seeking $ 1.3 billion in damages.
- The lawsuit alleges that Lindell turbocharged the sale for his company while promoting election fraud claims.
- Lindell told Insider that he is actually losing tens of millions of dollars.
- Visit Insider’s Business section for more stories.
Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, said he expects to lose $ 65 million in pillow revenue this year as a result of retailer boycotts over his claims that the 2020 election was faked.
Those losses, Lindell told Insider in an interview on Monday, after being served with a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems claiming $ 1.3 billion in damages, is evidence that he is not making election fraud claims for the money.
“I’ve lost 20 retailers and it cost me $ 65 million this year that I don’t get back, okay?” Lindell told Insider. ‘There is your story. Print it well. Don’t try to twist this. ‘
The 121-page lawsuit alleges that the pillow tycoon used election conspiracy theories to boost sales for his company, used conspiratorial phrases like discount codes, and placed expensive ads on like-minded media outlets.
“Lindell – a talented salesperson and former professional card counter – sells the lie to this day because the lie sells pillows,” wrote Tom Clare, the defamation attorney representing Dominion Voting Systems, in the lawsuit.
Dominion says Lindell used election conspiracy theories to sell more pillows
Lindell has been an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump for years. A former crack addict and professional gambler, the success of his business is due to his aggressive advertising strategy, which drove MyPillow’s revenues to more than $ 300 million in 2019.
According to Dominion’s lawsuit, that advertising strategy involves intertwining his personal brand and that of his company with right-wing media for the sale of juice.
MyPillow has spent tens of millions of dollars on ads on pro-Trump media outlets such as Fox News and Newsmax – both also the target of electoral bug lawsuits. After Donald Trump lost the November election, Lindell falsely claimed that Dominion faked the election. MyPillow sponsored a “March for Trump” tour (which was actually a bus) where Lindell spoke at rallies claiming the election had been stolen.
Dominion claims in the lawsuit that the conspiracy theories are a platform for Lindell to sell more pillows.
After hitting the jackpot with Donald Trump’s approval for MyPillow, and after a million dollar bet on Fox News ads delivered a nice return, Michael Lindell took advantage of a new opportunity to boost sales: it on marketing MyPillow to people who would tune in and attend meetings to hear Lindell tells the ‘big lie’ that Dominion stole the 2020 election, ” wrote Clare.
Michael J. Lindell CEO of My Pillow, cheers as US President Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a campaign rally in 2018.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Lindell told Insider that MyPillow’s advertising strategy differs from his personal politics. He said MyPillow has advertising and sponsorship deals with the likes of CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post, and the New York Times – all outlets he isn’t a fan of – as well as about 5,000 podcasts and radio and TV stations.
“I advertise everywhere. And every place is either break even or making money,” he said.
A Times representative told Insider that it last ran MyPillow ads in 2015. The other media outlets that Lindell mentioned did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lindell rejected the idea that he had some “preconceived plan” to make money by claiming that Dominion and Smartmatic, a rival election technology company also involved in conspiracy theories, falsified the presidential election. He said the boycott of brands like Kohl’s and Bed Bath & Beyond has cost him tens of millions of dollars in revenue.
“Those stores combined brought in $ 65 million last year. And now I won’t have them this year or any other year,” he said. ‘They are ready.’
Lindell says he’s just trying to save America
After the Jan. 6 uprising, where a pro-Trump gang tried to prevent Congress from certifying election results, Lindell merely doubled down on the claims of electoral fraud.
He met Trump in the Oval Office and took notes with him suggesting the president declare martial law. He went on to push the theories into media appearances and funded a two-hour “docu-movie” based on them called “Absolute Proof”. He, like Trump before him, was eventually banned from Twitter.
He says he openly welcomes the Dominion lawsuit he is now facing, saying they would provide him with a way to prove his claims about faked elections.
“I’m glad I got the paper today,” Lindell said.
To bolster his claim that Lindell linked election conspiracy theories to the sale of MyPillow, Dominion’s lawsuit includes a dozen pages of social media users saying they are buying MyPillow products to support Lindell’s electoral mistake.
“Mike Lindell is a true Patriot and an American hero who stands up for the truth. I buy more pillows with the discount code NEWSMAX #ElectonFraudHappened #MikeLindell #MyPillowGuy #MyPillow,” wrote one person on Twitter. “The mypillow man is being attacked by evil leftists. Go to mypillow.com and spend a lot,” wrote another.
Donald Trump listens to Michael J. Lindell, CEO of MyPillow Inc., speak at the daily briefing on the new coronavirus in March.
MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
Dominion’s lawsuit also alleges that Lindell used discount codes on his website linked to right-wing conspiracy theories, including using ‘FightforTrump’ as a discount code, while Trump supporters literally fought with officers in the Capitol and ‘Proof’ after broadcasting his ‘docu-film’. . “
But Lindell said ad partners created those discount codes. “FightforTrump,” for example, belonged to a podcaster MyPillow partnered with – one of hundreds of radio hosts MyPillow has sponsorship deals with.
He said that controversies over advertising typically increased his business’ sales, but boycotts since January seem to be causing long-term damage to pillow sales.
“When I am boycotted, people buy more pillows, at least in the short term,” Lindell told Insider. ‘I always get a ride for a few days when they attack the company. But this time it is different. ‘
Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, waits outside the west wing of the White House before entering Washington, DC on January 15, 2021.
Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Despite the damage his company has suffered, Lindell is willing to move forward with his claims so that, he said, he can “save the country” from the pernicious influence of communism. He said he doesn’t believe the people who demand retailers to boycott MyPillow are real and claim to be bots.
“I’m not a stupid person. I have a huge business that I’ve built from scratch. I’m an ex-addict and I’m not going to shy away from a big billion dollar company trying to steal our country,” he said.
“All I want is this election now. I don’t care how much money it costs me,” he added.
Lindell’s claims about the election have not been substantiated
Recently, Lindell returned to the spotlight after releasing a self-made documentary called “Absolute Proof,” which claims that in some states, voter intervention caused states to go from then-President Donald Trump to now-President Joe Biden.
For example, a data table in the film says that nearly 200,000 Wisconsin votes were falsely marked as absent ballots and therefore should have been counted differently – although multiple state and federal judges, including one appointed by Trump, approved the counting of those votes. .
The “docu-film” also claims that several countries, including China, Iran and the United Kingdom, were complicit in generating inconsistencies in elections.
Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow.
Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images
It is not clear where the data in “Absolute Evidence” comes from. Lindell claims it came from “government spyware” and was turned into graphs and charts by a “megacomputer”. Federal agencies have said the 2020 election was “the safest in history,” and judges have thrown out dozens of lawsuits contesting the election results, without any evidence of irregularities.
According to Lindell, ‘Absolute Proof’ has been viewed more than 110 million times, although he declined to provide evidence for those ratings. This year’s Super Bowl had approximately 96 million viewers.
Lindell told Insider that he is not concerned about Dominion’s lawsuit against him, saying he has “bigger fish to fry” and “much bigger things” that he’s working on. He said he has a “huge team” of lawyers working on the case, and he has all the necessary evidence to prove his case.
“This is going to the Supreme Court. And when that happens, it’s a nine-zero vote that our country has been attacked, ”Lindell said. “And then all the media will finally come and go, wow, ‘Mike, you know what? You were always right.”