Lindell appeared on former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s right-wing news show, promoting his rags-to-riches book, What are the Odds: From Crack Addict to CEO. Lindell offered his latest unproven claim of corruption against the Better Business Bureau (BBB), saying the Virginia-based nonprofit turned its back on MyPillow after he went “all in” for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
“The Better Business Bureau, the crooked Better Business Bureau, which took me from an A+ to an F. Still an F is fantastic, people,” Lindell said on Bannon’s War Room program broadcast through the Real America’s Voice network.
In December 2016, the nonprofit Better Business Bureau (BBB) revoked its previous accreditation for Lindell’s MyPillow company and products, and dropped MyPillow’s official rating from an “A”-rating to an “F.” The BBB’s Minnesota and North Dakota factions announced at the time that this downgrade was based upon consumer complaints and a series of fake “buy one, get one free” advertisements that personally featured Lindell.
A BBB representative in 2016 said consumers had complained that MyPillow was offering a buy one get one free deal for $89.97 on its website. But customers could simply purchase one MyPillow at other second-hand retailers for $49.99. Senior Vice President of the BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota, Barb Grieman, confirmed to USA Today in 2016 that MyPillow had fallen from an A-plus rating to an F in a very quick timeframe.
At the time, Lindell had sold more than 25 million pillows across the country, according to Consumer Reports from 2016.
“When you become accredited you agree to follow and adhere to the BBB standards and our code of advertising, which clearly states … you can’t make a BOGO [buy one, get one free] a continuous offer, or any deep discount a continuous offer,” Grieman said.
The BBB’s move came just weeks after Trump’s successful presidential election campaign against Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, Lindell recently promised to share “100 percent, non-subjective evidence” in August that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged” in favor of Joe Biden over Donald Trump. “Our country was attacked by China. The election was hacked and we’re gonna have a cyber-symposium,” he claimed.
Newsweek reached out to MyPillow representatives as well as officials with the BBB for any additional response or remarks about Lindell’s accusation Saturday afternoon.