David Hogg, a survivor of the Parkland school shooting and an advocate for gun control, plans to launch his own pillow company with the aim of competing with the battered bedding company MyPillow.
The idea was presented to Hogg, 20, in a tweet from businessman William LeGate on Thursday that questioned whether the duo should open a pillow company to “put MyPillow off the market”.
MyPillow CEO and founder Mike Lindell is a vocal advocate for Donald Trump and has repeatedly promoted false allegations of fraud over the 2020 presidential election.
“Mike, the ‘pillow guy’ … This pillow fight got really real,” Hogg tweeted on Thursday.
Although it might have seemed like a joke at first, Hogg later said that he took the venture seriously. He tweeted a list of goals for the future company, which included supporting progressive causes and hiring previously incarcerated Americans.
“The website will be available in a few weeks; we are in the early stages now, ”said Hogg. “But we’re really doing this if you have cool ideas for names for me – we think we have one, but we’re still open.”
Hogg became a household name in 2018 after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed. Since then, Hogg has become a staunch supporter of gun law reform and has joined several of his colleagues in founding March for Our Lives, a student-led arms control organization.
LeGate also tweeted about the venture, asking any manufacturer based in the United States with experience making pillows to look for it.
Lindell told NBC News last month that “a group attacked my suppliers” and that retailers called him saying they had been threatened with a “boycott if they didn’t obey” and abandoned their products. Major chains like Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s abandoned MyPillow products amid reaction to Lindell’s open support for electoral fraud conspiracy theories.
MyPillow’s Twitter account was suspended after Lindell tried to use it when his personal account was banned due to false allegations. Twitter confirmed to NBC news on Monday that the corporate account was removed for a violation of Twitter’s “evasion ban policy”.
Lindell did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.
