MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said his company is pulling its ads from Fox News because the network rejected a proposed commercial for a “cyber symposium” he plans to broadcast online.
Mr. Lindell told The Washington Times on Friday that he directed Fox News to drop his pillow ads from its programming after the network refused to run a 60-second ad for his upcoming livestreamed event.
“I said, OK, then you just will take off all MyPillow ads, immediately and indefinitely,” Mr. Lindell told The Times. The bedding company spent about $50 million advertising on Fox last year, he said.
“Fox is just, to me, terrible, terrible, terrible,” Mr. Lindell continued. “With Fox News, they’re part of this cancel culture. ’Let’s just cancel Mike out like he doesn’t exist.’”
Fox News confirmed it refused to run the commercial for the symposium. Mr. Lindell said he expects other conservative-leaning cable networks to air it as soon as Saturday.
“It’s unfortunate Mr. Lindell has chosen to pause his commercial time on Fox News given the level of success he’s experienced in building his brand through advertising on the number one cable news network,” Fox News said in a statement.
The Wall Street Journal first reported about the dispute Thursday.
In a copy of the proposed commercial shared with The Times, Mr. Lindell promotes both his symposium and a newly launched website where he says the symposium will be streamed live Aug. 10-12 for 72 hours.
Mr. Lindell, a fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump known for promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, makes no mention of either in the ad that Fox rejected.
“All of you know what MyPillow and myself have gone through in the last five months in my efforts to bring the truth forward. Well, it’s all come down to this,” Mr. Lindell says in the ad.
Speaking by phone, Mr. Lindell said the symposium will include the presentation of what he maintains to be “not subjective, 100% evidence” of a Chinese cyberattack on the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
No credible evidence of substantial fraud that would overturn President Biden’s victory has been found. Federal security and election officials in both the Trump and Biden administrations have said the results are sound.
Previously, Mr. Lindell predicted the U.S. Supreme Court would overturn the results immediately after his symposium. More recently, he speculated that Mr. Biden could be prompted to resign.
“What, are we going to let Fox judge now what each event is that you’re inviting people to watch? That’s just disgusting. Shame on Fox. Put that in your article. Shame on Fox,” Mr. Lindell told The Times.
Mr. Lindell met repeatedly with Mr. Trump while the Republican was president, including during his final days in office when the pillow magnate was seen at the White House with documents about martial law.
Several major retailers dropped MyPillow in the weeks that followed. In early February, shortly after Mr. Biden was sworn in, Mr. Lindell said 18 retailers and counting had ditched his brand.
Mr. Biden soundly defeated Mr. Trump with an Electoral College victory of 306-232. Mr. Trump and some of his allies, including Mr. Lindell, 60, have continued to deny the legitimacy of his loss, however.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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