Mike Lindell returned to Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday night, but as always, this wasn’t your typical interview. On top of being his usual conspiratorial self, Lindell was only allowed to appear on the show if he agreed to be interviewed from inside an arcade claw machine from Dave & Buster’s. He readily accepted the offer and even boasted about it on Twitter. “I am willing to be humiliated to help save our country,” Lindell tweeted ahead of the taping.
However, the MyPillow CEO may have underestimated just how he was going to be roasted. Kimmel immediately started throwing jabs in his monologue and quipped that he put Lindell in the arcade game to help him get over his fear of machines.
“All the way from whatever planet he came from, Mr. My Pillow, Mike Lindell is here to finally answer the question, ‘What if Ted Lasso was on the FBI watchlist'” Kimmel quipped before shooting down a wild theory that Lindell was spreading before the show. Via The Daily Beast:
And while Lindell has been telling anyone who will listen that Kimmel wants him in a glass cage because of his COVID-19 vaccination status, Kimmel clarified, “I did not insist that Mike be in a claw machine because he’s not vaccinated. I insisted he be in a claw machine because it’s hilarious,” adding, “This isn’t a political statement. This is just for fun.”
Kimmel also peppered Lindell with questions about his failed bid to become chair of the Republican National Convention, which ended with the MyPillow CEO getting a comically low number of votes. Surprisingly, Lindell accepted the results and said he didn’t think the RNC election was rigged because machines weren’t involved, which opened him up to more jokes from Kimmel.
“You distrust machines,” Kimmel noted. “Does that extend to sewing machines What about ice machines” But the questioning didn’t get very far as Kimmel brought out Lindell impersonator James Adomian who wanted to know what kind of “dark magic” was happening as he looked at the real Lindell inside the claw machine.