Trump ally says he did not intend Nazi symbolism by selling pillows for $14.88
But Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, says he won’t remove the ads despite criticism
Businessman Mike Lindell speaks at a rally featuring U.S. Republican Presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, Minnesota, July 27, 2024. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Mike Lindell, the outspoken Donald Trump ally and CEO of MyPillow, says he did not know the number $14.88 was a neo-Nazi symbol when he advertised it as the new price of one of his products.
Customers who visit the pillow company’s website can purchase the “Classic Collection” for $14.88, a price MyPillow advertised on X as a “a limited time offer!” discounted from $49.98.
But users of the social media platform also took note of something else: 1488 is a popular calling card for white supremacists. The number 14 refers to the number of words in a white supremacist slogan, while 88 refers to H, the eighth letter of the alphabet, and thus symbolizes the Nazi salute “Heil Hitler.”
“Together, the numbers form a general endorsement of white supremacy and its beliefs,” reads the “1488” entry in the Anti-Defamation League’s Hate Symbols Database. “As such, they are ubiquitous within the white supremacist movement.”
Accounts appearing to belong to white supremacists praised the pricing, which remains unchanged on MyPillow’s site as of Wednesday evening, while many others mocked it. The episode reflects both how white supremacists have resumed activity on X since Elon Musk lifted many of its hate speech guardrails in recent years, and how seemingly innocuous number combinations can unintentionally resonate in a charged political environment.
“Yes, I think we have a deal,” wrote one user who self-identifies as an “ethnostatesman” and posted a picture of Pepe the Frog, another common white supremacist symbol, in his reply. Another user called “Goy division” whose bio is full of white supremacist symbology (including a Nazi SS-esque lightning bolt and the phrase “Fourteen words, eighty-eight precepts”) wrote, “6,000,000 positive reviews can’t be wrong.”
Plenty of others poked fun at the post. “You’ve heard of Mein Kampf, but have you ever read the sequel, Mein Kampfort,” tweeted one user.
For his part, Lindell says he had no idea the number was a Nazi symbol, and that he came to it as a common discounting tactic used by Walmart.
“When they have a sale on a sale, right? That 88,” he said on FlashPoint, a conservative online talk show. “I get a call from all the media around the country and the world, all the way to the Daily Mail, saying, what are you, a Nazi?”
He added, “I’m going, ‘Who comes up with this stuff?’”
Lindell is known for his eager and public embrace of the most outlandish false claims that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, a popular theory on the far right, but has not otherwise been identified with white supremacists and antisemites. He and Trump are close: Lindell spoke at the Republican National Convention in July and often speaks at Trump’s rallies.
On the conservative talk show, Lindell linked the criticism to his support for Trump and for voting reforms he is seeking.
“It’s another attack on MyPillow because their CEO wants to go to paper ballots and counting, it’s as simple as that,” he said.
The ads aren’t coming down, he said.
“Some media called me, ‘Are you going to apologize and take it down?’ I said, ‘No, I’m going to double down.’”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
