For some reason, Jimmy Kimmel gave Mike Lindell—MyPillow founder and sued conspiracy theorist—time on his show Wednesday night.
At the top of the 18-minute interview, Lindell briefly discussed his experience with crack addiction. About three minutes into the discussion, Kimmel jokingly ran through Lindell’s life story, concluding with, “And then you fell in love with Donald Trump and now here we are, is that correct?”
Lindell then noted he wasn’t at all politically interested until he was able to get sober years ago. And in 2016, he met Trump, a fellow pusher of baseless conspiracy theories.
Later, Kimmel—who placed a buzzer on his desk “in case there’s anything that we have to challenge”—explained that both he and Lindell were advised against conducting this interview for obvious reasons.
“I don’t think there’s any validity to any of this stuff that you’re saying, and I’ve studied you, I really have,” Kimmel said, adding that it’s not difficult to link the sort of theories touted by Lindell to the ideology that resulted in the fatal Capitol riot in January. Lindell, meanwhile, reiterated his 2020 election-related claims about an “attack through the machines” and criticized Dominion Voting Systems, who sued him for $1.3 billion earlier this year.
“They don’t show their machines,” Lindell said. “That’s the big thing.”
Kimmel repeatedly expressed concern for Lindell due to his apparent belief in such theories, at one point telling Lindell he was “self-destructive” and urging him to take seriously the likelihood of all of this ending badly.
“I worry about you,” Kimmel said about nine minutes into the interview. “I feel like you are maybe self-destructive. You have lost everything repeatedly so many times in your life. You had a bar, all of these things. You know the story. I feel like you’re gonna be out dressed as Spider-Man on Hollywood Boulevard at the end of this whole thing. Dominion is suing you for $1.3 billion.”
After Lindell claimed he would still be pushing this argument even if Biden had lost the election, Kimmel again expressed concern.
“I believe that you are sincere,” the host said. “I also think there’s something going on from the crack or something that has, whatever, made you think. I mean, you mentioned paranoia.”
Elsewhere, Lindell confirmed he doesn’t know what the “IP” stands for in “IP address” (“I’m not an expert”) and also discussed donating to a legal fund that put money toward Kyle Rittenhouse.
If you insist on watching, the full interview is available up top. When promoting the interview on Instagram, Kimmel referred to Lindell as a “deranged pillow magnate.”
