MyPillow CEO and MAGA diehard Mike Lindell is suing the Daily Mail over its recent viral article claiming he had a months-long romantic relationship with actress Jane Krakowski.
The staunch Trump ally’s legal effort, led by celebrity attorney and infamous “Gawker killer” Charles Harder, filed a lawsuit on Monday in the Southern District of New York reiterating the pillow mogul’s claims that prior to the Mail’s article he’d never even heard of Krakowski, a Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated actress most famous for her role as Jenna Maroney on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, and her role on Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
In particular, the lawsuit asserted that the report caused Lindell “significant humiliation and emotional distress,” and undermined his credibility as an advocate for sobriety. While the article reported that Lindell has wooed Krakowski with champagne and liquor, Monday’s lawsuit noted that Lindell has spoken publicly about his struggles with substance abuse, and runs a recovery network for addicts.
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“In their bogus ‘news’ report, Defendants accuse Mr. Lindell, a reverent family man prominent in his church community, of plying Ms. Krakowski with liquor, wine and other such gifts,” the filing said. “As a recovering addict and alcoholic who frequently writes and speaks publicly about his spiritual triumphs over substance abuse, Mr. Lindell is horrified by the Defendants’ fabricated and very public accusations.”
Harder has also been a personal lawyer on a variety of issues for Donald Trump, including when the former, twice-impeached president was still in office. He also represented now-former first lady Melania Trump in her defamation lawsuit against none other than the Daily Mail—a case that ended in a settlement and a retraction.
“I’m glad [Harder] is getting it done fast. It’s done a lot of damage out there already, a lot of damage,” Lindell said in a brief phone call on Monday evening. “He told me it was coming this afternoon, but you’re the first person to bring my attention to it and call me about it.”
A spokesperson for the Daily Mail told The Daily Beast: “We stand by our reporting.”
Krakowski similarly denied the reported affair with the MyPillow CEO. In a statement to The Daily Beast last week, a spokesperson for the actress said she had “never met Mr. Lindell.”
But while Lindell may be a plaintiff in the suit against the Mail, it may not be the only defamation suit the vocally pro-Trump businessman is involved in. Earlier this month, election technology company Dominion Voting Services sent Lindell a cease-and-desist notice, warning him that they may sue him for defamation if he continued to make “false and conspiratorial” claims about the Dominion’s role in the 2020 election.
Those alleged claims have already had repercussions on social media. Late Monday night, Twitter suspended an account belonging to Lindell.
