Costco will keep selling MyPillow even as other stores drop the products after the CEO amplified former President Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud.
Kohl's, Bed Bath & Beyond and J.C. Penney have confirmed they will discontinue selling the brand but cited a slowdown in sales. MyPillow CEO and founder Mike Lindell says Wayfair, Texas supermarket chain H-E-B and Kroger also have said they will stop selling his company's products.
But Costco is not halting sales. It is promoting several MyPillow "special events" through the end of February at select clubs in eight states including Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Texas, Utah and Washington.
“We’re selling there,” Lindell said of Costco in an interview with USA TODAY on Thursday. “They’re switching somethings up this summer, but we’re still selling there as far as I know.”
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Costco didn't immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for comment but the schedule of special event sales was listed on its website Thursday. The MyPillow products were not for sale on Costco.com.
"We have contractual commitments to MyPillow that we intend to honor, as we seek to do with all of our suppliers," a Costco representative told news outlet SFGate.com.
People have flocked to social media to put pressure on stores carrying MyPillow to drop the brand and there were several comments asking Costco to drop the brand on its Facebook page Thursday. Some asked how they could cancel their memberships.
Several comments about the event were posted to Costco's Facebook page Thursday with some asking how they can cancel their memberships.
"I don't shop at stores that have vendors that call for insurrection and marshall law (sic)." one commenter wrote.
Lindell, who has been a public supporter of Trump, was photographed leaving a White House meeting last week with notes referring to the use of martial law and a potential CIA shakeup.
Last week, he told supporters on Facebook to "keep the faith" and, "We will have our president Donald Trump 4 more years!"
Dominion Voting Systems threatened to sue Lindell due to his claims that the company's machines were rigged to change the outcome of the election. This claim has been debunked. "Litigation regarding these issues is imminent," reads the letter sent to Lindell.
Lindell created the MyPillow in 2004 and built the business in Chaska, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis, said he doesn’t regret his election claims or his support of Trump, who he said he first met in 2016.
Lindell told USA TODAY that he isn't going to back down on the election and that he believes bots and trolls, not actual customers, are leaving negative comments about his products. He said he has been through this before after he promoted oleander extract as a treatment for COVID-19 over the summer.
“That’s their choice," he said of the retailers dropping his brands. "The customers are going to buy it from MyPillow or the other box stores that stuck with us that are going to be so busy."
Affirm, a "buy now, pay later" e-commerce platform, confirmed to USA TODAY that it has terminated its relationship with the brand and removed it from its platform.
"Affirm should be ashamed of themselves," Lindell said, adding he only got verbal notice before they took the platform down.
According to Lindell, BJ's Wholesale's Club is continuing to sell MyPillow, along with Amazon and Walmart. The medium MyPillow was on sale for $15 off at BJ's Thursday.
"BJ’s canceled some (purchase orders), but they were way out off in the distance. I think that was their own internal thing," he said. "They’re still selling our product."
Contributing: Coral Murphy Marcos and Morgan Hines, USA TODAY; Associated Press
Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko
