The launch of pro-Trump pillow magnate Mike Lindell’s promising “ free speech ” social media site is not going as planned, as the MyPillow CEO repeatedly dealt with prank callers during his Monday livestream kickoff for Frank Speech.
And at one point, Lindell thought his hero had called Donald Trump to wish him the best, but it turned out to be a prankster, prompting the pillow salesman to – in a bit of unintentional comedy – fiddle with his phone while he complained. that “They attack us.”
Lindell, who is currently facing a $ 1.3 billion lawsuit for defamation of voting software company Dominion for propagating election wings, was banned from Twitter and other social media platforms for violating policies on spreading disinformation. In response, Lindell announced that he would be launching his own website.
However, the new platform has had a slow start. The Trump-boosting pillow salesman had to change its original name after a legal threat. And while the site should be about “freedom of speech,” users should not use blasphemy or God’s name in vain. And while the site is essentially based on the ability to lie freely about elections or other hot-button issues, Lindell has stated that “outright” lies are prohibited.
While Frank Speech’s launch date was scheduled for April 19 at 9 p.m. ET, the platform wasn’t live as of Monday morning. During a livestream promotion site that also featured former Trump officials Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon – both suppliers of the ‘Big Lie’ that the 2020 election was ‘rigged up’ – Lindell said registration for “Frank” had been put on hold because they were “under the greatest attack in history for a website”.
Eventually Lindell started taking live calls on his cell phone, and it appears that some crank callers came through who was shielding the phone line.
With his phone on the speaker, the MyPillow guy took a call he thought was from a Wall Street Journal reporter, only for the caller to tell a clearly made-up story about a co-worker who died of a drug overdose, causing Lindell to hang up abruptly.
‘This is a joke. This is a joke. Lindell shouted. “See what they do, all of them? See what they do, all of them? That was an attack there.”
And then, a while later, the screener broke into the air to tell Lindell – who funded many of the pro-Trump legal attempts to reverse the election – that they had “ breaking news ” that Trump was on the line and done. was to be patched up.
‘Hello everyone,’ a recording of Trump played, prompting an excited Lindell to roar that they had the ‘real president’ on the air.
“Hello, Mr. President,” Lindell continued beaming, but the joker immediately revealed himself with a series of expletives.
Lindell hastily dropped the call, claiming that this was proof that he was being attacked, while also stating that an ominous “they” were “hacking our phones.”
Like many of his other recent claims, Lindell offered no evidence behind that claim.