MyPillow CEO, election denier, and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell appears to be partnering with multiple QAnon figures to promote an upcoming “election summit” that purports to “reveal the plan that will save our election platforms immediately.” Multiple QAnon supporters have claimed that Lindell and his associates have asked them to promote the event, and at least one of them has also claimed that Lindell is paying them to do so via referral codes.
Lindell, a pillow salesman and one of Fox News’ biggest advertisers, has been a prominent booster of false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Following the 2020 election, Lindell hosted forums pushing election fraud claims and was photographed entering the West Wing in the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency with notes that seemed to advocate for martial law. In January, Lindell unsuccessfully ran for chair of the Republican National Committee.
Lindell’s promotion of election denial has led to legal troubles and, according to him, also a financial toll: In July, he announced that he was auctioning off more than 700 pieces of MyPillow equipment after losing $100 million in sales “due to big retailers halting sales of the company’s products.” He was also ordered by an arbitration panel to pay $5 million after offering that amount to “anyone who could prove a store of computer data he had acquired wasn’t, in fact, 2020 election data” — which someone subsequently did.
In addition to pushing election fraud claims, Lindell has been tied to supporters of the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory, associating with these figures and pushing claims that have been largely amplified by them. Lindell has also provided MyPillow discount codes using terms associated with the conspiracy theory (“QAnon,” “Q,” and “storm”), and Media Matters previously reported that he has funded numerous QAnon shows by giving them MyPillow discount codes.
Now, Media Matters has found that Lindell appears to be partnering with QAnon figures for his upcoming “election summit” on August 16 and 17. The event’s site asks attendees signing up for the event for a referral code in order to “support our partners” — which Media Matters found includes QAnon figures.
Since at least July 18, multiple QAnon figures — some of whom already have MyPillow codes — began promoting the event and offering their own referral codes.
On July 20, one of the QAnon figures, Melissa Redpill The World, announced on social media that Lindell “had a meeting with all of us who have been supporting him” and that he “wants to make sure that each one of us is on it” and gets people signed up for the event. She also encouraged people to use her code.
That same day, another QAnon figure, MJTruth, claimed, “I was contacted by an associate of Mike Lindell’s team to join in on a meeting with Mike Lindell to talk about this event” because Lindell “needs help from people like me who have an audience to register people to view this live streamed event he’s got planned.” The figure also mentioned referral codes, admitting, “To be 100% transparent, there is compensation.”
