Parkland activist David Hogg launches pillow fight against conservative businessman
Parkland student activist David Hogg has a new fight on his hands. This time he’s bringing a pillow to battle.
On the same day Hogg announced his business endeavor, his name hit national news again when three of South Florida’s House Republicans voted Thursday to remove Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene off congressional committees. The newly elected Greene had questioned whether the 2018 Parkland school shooting really happened, and video showed her harassing Hogg and other Parkland survivors who fought for gun control.
Hogg, 20, said he, along with Los Angeles software developer and entrepreneur William LeGate, are starting a pillow company to compete against MyPillow, the company led by Mike Lindell.
Lindell is the founder and CEO of MyPillow, whose product was pulled by several major retailers after he voiced support for former President Donald Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election.
Lindell pitched his pillows on late-night infomercials.
Hogg and LeGate are turning to social media — namely the former president’s former favorite platform: Twitter.
“William LeGate and I are going to prove that progressives can make a better pillow, run a better business and help make the world a better place while doing it.,” Hogg posted Thursday.
LeGate, 26, said in a video clip posted to Twitter: “I don’t know about you guys, but I like pillow companies that don’t fund insurrections against the U.S. government.”
LeGate, a 2013 Thiel Fellow, is the CEO of PredIQt, a decentralized prediction market, according to Crunchbase. At 14, LeGate created an iOS app development company, Imagination Research Labs, after teaching himself computer coding from online Stanford courses.
“People underestimate what two kids can do selling pillows,” LeGate said on Twitter, adding that the pair are not looking for investors.
“I am funding 100% of our pillow venture,” he wrote. “It will be 100% owned by me, David, & our strategic partners. We want to retain complete control so no compromises on values.”
Hogg, whose goal for the first year seems modest: $1 million, says on Twitter the two are up for the pillow fight with the MyPillow founder.
“Mike isn’t going to know what hit him. This pillow fight is just getting started.”
LeGate said the pair will rely on social media and are soliciting memes to push their as-yet unnamed pillow. They also haven’t revealed its design.
“We plan to spend exactly $0 on marketing to compete against industry giants — and we will win — with MEMES!”
The feathers won’t fly on Twitter, though. Lindell’s personal and corporate accounts were permanently banned on Twitter because of his claims that Trump won the November election, USA Today reported.
This story was originally published February 5, 2021 at 10:27 AM.
