Stores drop MyPillow after CEO pushes election conspiracies

JOSEPH PISANI and ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
·2 min read
  • FILE - In this March 30, 2020 file photo, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a briefing about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington. Lindell, an avid supporter of President Donald Trump, who has continued to push the notion of election fraud since Trump lost to Joe Biden in the presidential election in November, said his products will no longer be carried in the stores of some retailers, including Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
  • FILE - In this March 30, 2020 file photo, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. Lindell, an avid supporter of President Donald Trump, who has continued to push the notion of election fraud since Trump lost to Joe Biden in the presidential election in November, said his products will no longer be carried in the stores of some retailers, including Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
1 / 2

MyPillow-Retailers

FILE - In this March 30, 2020 file photo, My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a briefing about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington. Lindell, an avid supporter of President Donald Trump, who has continued to push the notion of election fraud since Trump lost to Joe Biden in the presidential election in November, said his products will no longer be carried in the stores of some retailers, including Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl's. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The founder and CEO of MyPillow, who amplified President Donald Trump's claims of election fraud, said a backlash against his company has begun after a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol this month.

Mike Lindell, who appears in TV commercials hugging the company’s foam-filled pillows, said major retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s have dropped his products recently.

Both companies confirmed the decision to cease carrying the brand Tuesday, but cited flagging sales rather than Lindell’s actions or his support for Trump.

“There has been decreased customer demand for MyPillow,” Kohl’s said in an email.

Lindell has continued to push bogus claims of election fraud since Trump’s loss to President-elect Joe Biden in the presidential race. MyPillow's logo was also prominently featured on TrumpMarch.com, a website that promoted the Jan. 6 events in Washington, in which rioters stormed the Capitol.

That has led people to flock to social media and put pressure on stores carrying MyPillow to drop the brand. Lindell said products have also been pulled from online furniture store Wayfair and Texas supermarket chain HEB. Neither company responded to a request for comment.

“They’re succumbing to the pressure from these attacks,” Lindell said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I’m one of their best-selling products ever. They’re going to lose out. It’s their loss if they want to succumb to the pressure.”

Lindell said he doesn’t regret his election claims or his support of Trump, who he said he first met in 2016.

“I stand for what’s right,” said Lindell, who created the MyPillow in 2004 and built the business in Chaska, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis. “I’m standing firm.”

Aside from the retail pressure, Lindell is also facing potential litigation from Dominion Voting Systems for his accusations that their voting machines played a role in election fraud. The Washington Post reported that Dominion sent Lindell a letter earlier this month stating that they would pursue legal action against him.

Lindell said he's conducted his own investigation into the voting machines and hopes Dominion will file its suit quickly so that “all the evidence can come out.”

Asked if he played a role in the insurrection of the Capitol, Lindell said he didn’t support it at all.

“What are you talking about? I wasn’t even there," he said before abruptly ending the call. “I have to get on another show. Now our conversation ends.”

___

AP Business Writer Michelle Chapman in New York contributed to the report.

Latest Stories

  • ‘Fire-obsessed' man who killed pensioner by setting mobility scooter on fire is jailed

    Richard Newing, 43, admitted setting the blaze that killed 69-year-old Malcolm Turner.

  • Senator Cruz puts hold on Biden's CIA pick Burns over Nord Stream 2 pipeline

    Republican Senator Ted Cruz put a hold late on Friday on President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency to pressure the administration to put tough sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project. The Senate Intelligence Committee this week backed William Burns, a former ambassador to Russia, by a unanimous vote.

  • Russian, Chinese hackers targeted Europe drug regulator - newspaper

    A Russian intelligence agency and Chinese spies were behind cyberattacks on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) last year, Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant reported, citing sources close to the investigation into the breach. The Amsterdam-based European drug regulator in December reported a cyberattack in which documents relating to COVID-19 vaccines and medicines were stolen and leaked on the internet. The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Saturday, but Moscow has repeatedly denied western allegations of hacking.

  • Ashwin says winning and bonding in bio-bubble 'special'

    India's Ravichandran Ashwin says life in a coronavirus bio-bubble made players bond better as they bounced back from an opening-match loss against England to clinch the Test series 3-1 on Saturday.

  • Pioli would 'like to be 30 years younger to play' for injury-hit Milan

    Stefano Pioli said Saturday he would like to be 30 years younger to take to the pitch for AC Milan as his injury-hit side push to keep touch with Inter in the Serie A title chase.

  • Lim: #ChooseToChallenge

    EACH year, I ask myself if celebrating International Women’s Day remains relevant. While I cannot say that I suffer from gender discrimination—globally, such is not the case for many women. So, the

  • Nordic skiing: Blistering Johaug signs off with 30km gold

    Norway's Therese Johaug put in another blistering performance to win Saturday's 30km classic race, streaking away from the start to take her fourth gold medal of the FIS Ski World Championships. Her compatriot Heidi Weng took second and Sweden's Frida Karlsson followed with the bronze. Johaug had a lead of 0.6 seconds at the first split time and she kept building, leading by almost a minute a third of the way through the race and barely looking over her shoulder.

  • Briones: Musings

    I WILL write about the weather today because, let’s face it, it has been very hot in the last few weeks or since the weather bureau announced that a typhoon would unleash its deadly force in Cebu and

  • Cabaero: When mild turns severe

    ONE observation about the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country is that the majority of those infected showed only mild symptoms.They had loss of smell or taste, fatigue and some headache

  • Dutch rider van den Broek-Blaak wins women's Strade Bianche

    Dutch rider Chantal van den Broek-Blaak won the Strade Bianche one-day classic women's race on the Piazza del Campo in Siena on Saturday.

  • Anti-Olympics protesters march in Tokyo

    The protest march started from National Stadium where the Game's opening ceremony is planned to be held, and went through the busy shopping street of Omote Sando. Protesters held banners and shouted slogans denouncing the Olympics and Paralympics.The protest organiser Toshio Miyazaki voiced his concerns that the recent leadership change of Tokyo 2020 may have distracted people's attention from his final goal, the cancellation."Now they (Olympics organizers) are trying to hold Olympics and Paralympics as if holding itself is meaningful, even if without spectators. Today we gather here to against such an idea," Miyazaki said.An opinion poll published this week by the Yomiuri newspaper showed 58% of people in Japan oppose holding the Games this year, although that figure was about 20 percentage points lower than earlier surveys.The Olympics are scheduled for July 23 to Aug. 8 and the Paralympics from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.

  • This strange marine animal is like the Roomba of the ocean floor

    Sea cucumbers are among the most bizarre looking creatures in the ocean. They are truly unique, not just in appearance, but also in their structure. They are echinoderms and they cover the sea beds worldwide. One of the most numerous of the sea animals, they are found in the shallows and also at great depths. Eyeless creatures, elongated in their shape and possessing leathery skin, they don't much resemble the animals that we know. They lack the bilateral symmetry of the majority of the creatures of the animal kingdom. Their bodies have five distinct sections instead of a left and a right. They are aptly named because most of them are close in appearance to a cucumber, they move almost imperceptibly slowly. They could easily be mistaken for a plant. Many are harvested and eaten throughout the world. But more important than their contribution to feeding the people in many countries, they provide a service for the ocean by filtering the water of bacteria, plankton and plant debris. Many species use their tentacles to draw food into their mouths as they slowly move over the ocean floor. Like millions of small ocean "Roombas", they work constantly, ridding the reefs, rocks, and sand bottoms of decaying plant matter. Without them, many animals would suffer from habitat loss. Algae that provide food could not grow and the silt and debris would simply accumulate and clog corals. Scuba divers enter the ocean with a sense of wonder for the incredible abundance of life that exists below the waves. The plants and animals there are unlike anything that we see above the surface. This undersea domain is alien and beautiful and each trip to the depths is an ad venture beyond description.

  • Puppy meets quail chicks, instantly falls in love

    This German Shepherd puppy is introduced to the newly hatched quail chicks for the first time. He loves them!

  • How to fix your TV remote control

    Instead of buying a new remote, the most common problem occurs when the connector inside gets dirty. The hard part is snapping the plastic housing. A little bit of rubbing alcohol to clean things up and it'll be back in business in no time!

  • Dublin street performer shocks crowd with her exceptional talent

    Allie Sherlock wows a local crowd in Dublin with her cover of 'Let Her Go' by Passenger. Someone get this woman a record deal!

  • Ivory Coast votes for parliament as Ouattara opponents join forces

    Ivory Coast voted on Saturday in a legislative election, with President Alassane Ouattara's allies facing a combined challenge from opposition parties led by two of his predecessors. The poll comes only months after Ouattara won a third term in an election marred by unrest that killed at least 85 people, the country's worst violence since a 2010-2011 civil war. After boycotting the presidential election in October to protest Ouattara's decision to seek a third term, the parties of former presidents Henri Konan Bedie and Laurent Gbagbo are fielding parliamentary candidates on joint lists.

  • 35 Brilliant Pieces of Life Advice, Courtesy of Dolly Parton

    We're framing every single one of these. From Redbook

  • 40 Iconic Movie Wedding Gowns, in Photos

    TBH, we'd wear every single one of these dresses.From Redbook

  • The Most Extreme Animals on the Planet

    These incredible creatures will do just about anything to survive.From Redbook

  • The Biggest Hair Transformations for a TV or Movie Role

    Alexander Skarsgård went somewhere few actors would go...From Redbook