Donald J. Trump, before he lost re-election and was all but scrubbed from social media and news networks, used to joke that one of his biggest fans, Mike Lindell, was on TV even more than he was. That might be actually be true: the ads for MyPillow, the sleepwear company owned by Lindell, and which star Lindell himself, are on Fox News almost constantly. But not for much longer: According to The Wall Street Journal, Lindell is pissed at the news network, so much that he’s asked for his ads to be pulled.
What on earth did Fox News do to upset Mike Lindell? According to him, they refused to run a commercial for a virtual symposium, likely to invovle his conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. And now Lindell is taking his toys and going home, which is to say the millions and millions of dollars he gets by selling pillows, much of which he’s already using to keep what has been dubbed “the Big Lie” alive. (In a statement mourning his decision, Fox News declined to reveal if they really did shoot down the ad and referred to his decision as simply a “pause.”)
As anyone who happens upon (or actually watches) Fox News knows, there aren’t many typical ads on Fox News. Most major advertisers have pulled their commercials, particularly due to the wild claims made by its biggest star, Tucker Carlson. As per WSJ, MyPIllow spent $50 million on Fox News advertisements in 2020 alone, and $19 million on this year so far.
But Lindell is no clear winner in this case. He’s revealed that, since he ramped up his pro-Trump passion since he lost last November, he’s had a number of retailers cut ties with his company, refusing to carry his product. Some retailers, though, have claimed this was simply due to poor sales. And then there are those lawsuits.
(Via WSJ)