Michael Lindell, the inventor and CEO My Pillow and vocal supporter of President Trump, says he has no plans to stop advertising on “The Ingraham Angle” and other Fox News shows and decried the strategy of advertiser boycotts as bad for consumers.
“I don’t boycott any station. I stand firm in what I believe in,” Lindell told TheWrap after leaving the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.
“What they do is their deal,” Lindell said of the conservative network. “My Pillow is another thing. I sell pillows.”
“I think [boycotts are] the worst thing ever,” he added. “What it does is advertisers just go to other things, prices go up and the consumer ends up paying for it. It’s absolutely horrific when they do boycotts. I don’t boycott other stations.”
Lindell said he drew a clear distinction between his personal beliefs and the networks where he placed ads and said his very public embrace of Trump had only helped his sales.
“My sales are [up] five-fold since I met the president of the United States,” Lindell said, alluding to a July 2017 meeting with Trump at the White House.
Reps for CNN and MSNBC did not immediately respond to inquiries about their relationship with Lindell.
Lindell, who became nationally known with his ads promising better sleep with his distinctive pillows, became a cult figure in conservative circles for his decision to defy sponsor boycotts against prominent Fox News personalities Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson. Even as dozens of advertisers pulled out, Lindell resisted — occasionally running lengthy ads — between commercial breaks on the primetime programs.
He was rewarded for his loyalty to the network with a sympathetic interview with Tucker Carlson last December.
Between them, Ingraham and Carlson have cost Fox News dozens of advertisers over the last year. For Ingraham, it began after she mocked Parkland, Florida, shooting survivor David Hogg, while for Tucker it was remarks saying illegal immigrants make the United States “poorer” and “dirtier.”
The boycotts have cost Fox News millions of dollars — which the network has disputed — but the station has vowed to stand behind both hosts and called the attacks politically motivated from partisan pressure groups.
Fox News directed TheWrap to an earlier statement they issued about the boycotts.
“Fox News will not allow voices like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham’s to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts from intolerant left wing activists at Moveon.org, Media Matters and Sleeping Giants. We continue to strongly support both Tucker and Laura which are the most watched programs in their timeslots.”
Despite the boycotts, both shows have continued to score high ratings.