MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says he has been the victim of cancel culture after multiple major retailers pulled his company’s products off their shelves, leaving him millions of dollars out of pocket.
Speaking to the Star Tribune, Mr. Lindell, who has been a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump and has disputed the results of the 2020 election, told the publication that he has also been dropped by multiple shopping networks, forcing him to auction off hundreds of pieces of equipment and sublet a manufacturing space.
“It was a massive, massive cancellation,” Mr. Lindell told the publication on July 10. “We lost $100 million from attacks by the box stores, the shopping networks, the shopping channels, all of them did cancel culture on us.”
Owing to the loss of business, Mr. Lindell is now selling more than 850 pieces of “surplus equipment” online, including sewing machines, industrial fabric spreaders, conveyor belts, electric forklifts, and more.
Meanwhile, his company is downsizing its operations and is subleasing some of its manufacturing spaces in Shakopee, Minnesota.
It is also taking a different approach to marketing, focusing more on direct sales, email, and radio marketing, and shooting new television commercials, Mr. Lindell said.
Retailers Drop MyPillow
“We kind of needed a building and a half, but now with these moves we’re making, we can get it down to our one building,” he said. “If the box stores ever came back we could have it if we needed it, but we don’t need that. It affected a lot of things when you lose that big of a chunk [of revenue].”
While the businessman has not yet had to lay off employees, he told the publication that some workers have been assigned new roles at his other businesses, such as his online marketplace, MyStore, or his online platform for people struggling with addictions, called the Lindell Recovery Network.
Last year, Walmart announced it had removed MyPillow products from its stores owing to the items receiving ratings under four stars, although a spokesperson told multiple outlets at the time that the products would still be available on Walmart.com.
A year prior, Bed Bath & Beyond stopped stocking the brand, citing a lack of sales. Costco, Kohl’s, H-E-B, and Wayfair also severed ties with MyPillow in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Mr. Lindell told the Star Tribune that he is also facing a string of legal challenges, including a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit, which he acknowledged have further added to his woes but said he is hopeful he will be “vindicated” in every single lawsuit.
Lindell Sues FBI, DOJ
Despite the ongoing legal battle, Mr. Lindell announced late last year that he was suing the FBI and the Department of Justice after officials seized his phone, which is connected to his hearing aids, while he was visiting a Hardee’s drive-through in Mankato, Minnesota with a friend.
In his lawsuit, the businessman claimed the seizure of his mobile device violated his First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment rights and accused the FBI and DOJ of surveying him using cellphone location data or a tracking device without having first secured a warrant to do so.
At the time of the incident, he told The Epoch Times that he believed he was targeted by FBI agents because he had been vocal about alleged voting irregularities during the November 2020 general election.
The DOJ later revealed Mr. Lindell was being investigated over alleged identity theft, intentional damage to a protected computer, and conspiracy to commit identity theft or intentionally damage a protected computer in relation to the alleged security breach of voting equipment in Mesa County, Colorado in 2021.
A federal judge later denied Mr. Lindell’s request for a temporary restraining order that would have prevented the FBI and DOJ from accessing any data stored on his phone or releasing any information that was on the device.
“The significant governmental interest in the integrity of an ongoing criminal investigation, as well as the privacy interests of these associated, uncharged individuals, outweigh Plaintiffs’ interest in access to these search warrant materials,” Judge Eric Tostrud, a Trump appointee, wrote in court filings at the time.
The judge also denied Mr. Lindell’s request to see the search warrant materials supporting the agencies’ search. The legal battle remains ongoing.
