- Dominion Voting Systems sued MyPillow and its CEO, Mike Lindell, for defamation and seeks $ 1.3 billion in damages.
- The lawsuit claims that Lindell increased his business sales, while making allegations of electoral fraud.
- Lindell told Insider that he is actually losing tens of millions of dollars.
- Visit the Business section of the Insider for more stories.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said he expects to lose $ 65 million in pillow revenue this year, after boycotts by retailers over his claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
These losses, Lindell told Insider in an interview on Monday after being sued for a defamation suit by Dominion Voting Systems seeking $ 1.3 billion in damages, is evidence that he is not promoting electoral fraud claims by cash.
“I lost 20 retailers and it cost me $ 65 million this year that I won’t get back, right?” Lindell told Insider. “There is your story. Print it straight. Don’t try to distort it.”
The 121-page lawsuit alleges that the pillow tycoon used conspiracy theories about electing turbocharger sales for his company, using conspiratorial phrases like discount codes and placing expensive ads on media outlets with similar ideas.
“Lindell – a talented salesman and former professional card accountant – still sells the lie today because the lie sells pillows,” wrote Tom Clare, the defamation attorney who represents Dominion Voting Systems, in the lawsuit.
Dominion says Lindell used election conspiracy theories as a way to sell more pillows
Lindell has fervently supported former President Donald Trump for years. A former crack addict and professional gamer, he credits his company’s success to his aggressive advertising strategy, which raised MyPillow’s revenue to more than $ 300 million in 2019.
According to the Dominion process, this advertising strategy involves the intertwining of your personal brand and that of your company in the right media for selling juices.
MyPillow spent tens of millions of dollars advertising on pro-Trump media outlets such as Fox News and Newsmax – both also targets of litigation over electoral falsehoods. After Donald Trump lost the election in November, Lindell falsely claimed that Dominion rigged the election. MyPillow sponsored a “March for Trump” tour (which was actually a bus), where Lindell spoke at rallies claiming that the election was stolen.
Dominion claims in the process that conspiracy theories are a platform for Lindell to sell more pillows.
“After winning the jackpot with Donald Trump’s endorsement for MyPillow and after a million dollar bet on Fox News ads generated considerable returns, Michael Lindell explored another chance to boost sales: MyPillow marketing for people who would tune in and watch rallies to hear Lindell told the ‘Big Lie’ that Dominion stole the 2020 elections, “wrote Clare.
Michael J. Lindell, CEO of My Pillow, celebrates as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to supporters during a campaign rally in 2018.
Justin Sullivan / Getty Images
Lindell told Insider that MyPillow’s advertising strategy is different from its personal policy. He said MyPillow has advertising and sponsorship deals with names like CNN, MSNBC, the Washington Post and the New York Times – all channels he is not a fan of – as well as some 5,000 podcasts and radio and TV stations.
“I advertise everywhere. And each location either draws or makes money,” he said.
A Times representative told Insider that the last time he posted ads on MyPillow was in 2015. The other media mentioned by Lindell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lindell rejected the idea that he had any “pre-designed plans” to make money on the grounds that Dominion and Smartmatic, a rival electoral technology company also involved in conspiracy theories, rigged the presidential election. He said the retailer’s boycott of brands like Kohl’s and Bed Bath & Beyond cost him tens of millions of dollars in revenue.
“These combined stores moved $ 65 million last year. And now I won’t have them this year, or any year,” he said. “They are ready.”
Lindell says he’s just trying to save America
After the January 6 uprising, where a pro-Trump crowd tried to prevent Congress from certifying election results, Lindell only doubled the charges of electoral fraud.
He met Trump in the Oval Office, taking notes with him, suggesting that the president should declare martial law. He continued to push the theories into media appearances and funded a two-hour “documentary” based on them called “Absolute Proof”. He, like Trump before him, was banned from Twitter.
He says he openly welcomes the Dominion lawsuit he is now facing, saying that they would offer him a way to prove his allegations of a rigged election.
“I’m happy to be notified in the papers today,” said Lindell.
To reinforce its claims that Lindell linked election conspiracy theories to MyPillow sales, Dominion’s lawsuit includes a dozen pages of social media users saying they are buying MyPillow products to support Lindell’s electoral falsehoods.
“Mike Lindell is a true Patriot and an American hero for defending the truth. I’m buying more pillows using the discount code NEWSMAX #ElectonFraudHappened #MikeLindell #MyPillowGuy #MyPillow”, wrote a person on Twitter. “The mypillow guy is being attacked by evil leftists. Go to mypillow.com and spend a lot,” wrote another.
Donald Trump overhears Michael J. Lindell, CEO of MyPillow Inc., speaking during the daily coronavirus romance briefing in March.
MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
The Dominion lawsuit also claims that Lindell used discount codes on his website that were linked to right-wing conspiracy theories, including using “FightforTrump” as a discount code, while Trump supporters literally fought officers on Capitol Hill, and “Proof” after broadcasting his “documentary.”
But Lindell said that advertising partners created these discount codes. “FightforTrump”, for example, came from a podcaster with whom MyPillow worked – one of hundreds of radio presenters with which MyPillow has sponsorship deals.
He said that advertising controversies typically boost his company’s sales, but that boycotts since January appear to be causing long-term damage to pillow sales.
“When I’m boycotted, people tend to buy more pillows – at least in the short term,” Lindell told Insider. “I always get a little more excited for a few days when they attack the company. But now it’s different.”
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell waits outside the West Wing of the White House before entering January 15, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer / Getty images
Despite the damage to his company, Lindell is prepared to move forward with his claims, so that he can, he said, “save the country” from the pernicious influence of communism. He said he does not believe that the people who require retailers to boycott MyPillow are real, claiming they are bots.
“I am not a stupid person. I have a big company that I built from scratch. I am a former addict and I will not give up on a big billion dollar company that is trying to rob 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 are unfounded
More recently, Lindell returned to the spotlight after releasing a self-made documentary called “Absolute Proof”, which states that, in some states, voter interference has caused states to “jump” from then President Donald Trump to the current President Joe Biden.
A data table in the film, for example, says that nearly 200,000 Wisconsin votes were wrongly marked as absent votes and should therefore have been counted differently – although several state and federal judges, including one nominated by Trump, have approved counting those votes.
The “documentary” also claims that several countries, including China, Iran and the United Kingdom, were complicit in generating electoral inconsistencies.
Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow.
Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post by Getty Images
It is not clear where the data shown in “Absolute Proof” comes from. Lindell says it came from “spyware the government has” and was transformed by a “mega computer” into tables and graphs. Federal agencies said the 2020 election was “the safest in history,” and judges rejected dozens of lawsuits questioning election results, without finding evidence of irregularities.
According to Lindell, “Absolute Proof” has been viewed more than 110 million times, although he declined to provide evidence for these audience figures. This year’s Super Bowl had about 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” he’s working on. He said he has a “huge team” of lawyers working on the case, and he already has all the necessary evidence to prove his case.
“It will go to the Supreme Court. And when it does, it will be a nine to zero vote that our country has been attacked,” said Lindell. “And then all the media will finally show up and go, wow, ‘Mike, you know what? You were right all along.'”