Pillow seller Mike Lindell took a turn for the Fox News this week, complaining that the conservative chain – which essentially shows its MyPillow commercials in a loop – is not giving him a platform to sell his unfounded plots with electronic voting machines. Fox may be “involved” in a conspiracy against MAGA bosses, Lindell finally suggested.
The pillow tycoon, who became the face of a dead-end MAGA coalition still trying to overthrow President Joe Biden’s electoral victory, appeared on the radio program of far-right commentator Eric Metaxas on Monday to discuss his continued efforts to prove the lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Donald Trump. Lindell also discussed his attempts to create a new social media site (he was kicked out of Twitter and other platforms earlier this year for repeatedly pushing for disinformation of the vote).
After bragging that her new platform would automatically give so-called influencers “millions” of followers when they joined – especially if they had been kicked out of YouTube for making false claims – Lindell then grumbled about Fox News allegedly submissive to software companies voting rights Dominion and Smartmatic after billions of dollars of legal complaints.
“Lawsuits can be used as a way to silence people,” noted Metaxas in a moment signaled for the first time by the editor of the Salon team, Zachary Petrizzo. “They can be legitimate. But they can also be used as a way to silence people. And I realized that Fox and others, instead of looking at it, just say: We won’t talk about it, we don’t want to be sued. This is what is happening in America ”.
Last month, Smartmatic filed a $ 2.7 billion defamation suit against Fox News, three hosts (including the recently canceled Lou Dobbs) and former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, saying that all spread false information that the company rigged the 2020 elections. Dominion, another electronic voting machine at the center of unmasked electoral conspiracies, sued Lindell himself for $ 1.3 billion.
“I want to say something here – here are things that don’t make sense,” an excited Lindell replied. “Let’s just talk about Fox! You are already processed! It’s too late to close the gate, the cows are already out of the barn! “
The expert MAGA continued: “Why can’t people go there and say their freedom of speech then ?! You are already sued, Fox. What do you have – will you be sued twice? What’s the matter with you? “
Getting more and more agitated, Lindell expressed anger and frustration with the network before finally asking, “What are they doing? I do not understand. Is it a fake process? “
Notably, Lindell’s pillow commercials are by far the biggest advertiser in the Tucker Carlson Tonight, Fox’s most watched show. As host Tucker Carlson has sparked controversy in the past two years, the vast majority of top-tier advertisers on the network have dropped out of prime time, leaving mostly MyPillow ads, Fox News promotions and direct marketing.
While it remains to be seen whether Fox News reacts in any way to one of its biggest sponsors by calling the network directly, Lindell was able to force a right-wing agency to crawl back by failing to let him tell crazy conspiracies in the air.
After Newsmax anchor Bob Sellers interrupted Lindell several times during an interview before literally leaving the set when the founder of MyPillow kept talking about electronic voting machines, Sellers pleaded with “network friend” Lindell for forgiveness, assuring viewers that the pillow tycoon “continue to be an important guest at Newsmax. “