North Carolina governor candidate Mark Robinson sues CNN over ‘black Nazi’ porn site claims

North Carolina’s Republican lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, sued CNN on Tuesday over its report that he made comments on the pornographic forum Nude Africa, where he called himself a “perv” and “black Nazi.”

The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, comes less than four weeks after a report that led MAGA World to distance itself from Robinson after Trump endorsed the candidate in his bid against Josh Stein for the seat of outgoing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to take over.

Robinson, who announced the lawsuit at a news conference in Raleigh with a Virginia attorney, has denied being the author of the messages.

CNN ‘chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly ignoring that Lieutenant Governor Robinson’s data – including his name, date of birth, passwords and the email address allegedly linked to the NudeAfrica account – had previously been compromised due to multiple data breaches,” the lawsuit said. states, referring to the website.

Robinson, who would be the state’s first black governor if elected, called the report a “high-tech lynching” of a candidate “who from Day 1 has been targeted by people who disagree with me politically and destroyed me want to see.’

CNN “chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly ignoring that Lt. Governor Robinson’s data … had previously been compromised by multiple data breaches,” the lawsuit said.

CNN declined to comment Tuesday, spokesperson Emily Kuhn said in an email.

The CNN report, which first aired on September 19, said Robinson left statements on the message board more than a decade ago in which he partially called himself a “black Nazi,” said he liked transgender pornography, said he favored Hitler over then-President Barack Obama, and mentioned the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. ‘worse than a maggot’.

The network report said it linked details of the message board account to other online accounts owned by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name.

CNN reported that details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information.

The network also said it was comparing tropes often raised in his public Twitter profile that appeared in discussions by the account on the pornographic website.

Polls at the time of the CNN report already showed Democratic rival Josh Stein, the incumbent attorney general, ahead of Robinson.

Early in-person voting begins statewide Thursday and more than 57,000 completed ballots have been received so far.

In the same defamation lawsuit, Robinson also sued a singer from a Greensboro punk rock band who claimed in a music video and in an interview with a media outlet that Robinson visited a porn store where the singer once worked and bought videos in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Robinson, who would be the state’s first black governor if elected, called the report a “high-tech lynching” of someone “who has been targeted from Day 1 by people who disagree with me.”

At least 10 right-wing groups and individuals have canceled events featuring Robinson, and several candidates in North Carolina have removed images of the lieutenant governor online.

Louis Love Money, the other named defendant, released the video and spoke to other media before the CNN report.

Robinson denies the allegations in the lawsuit, which reads: “Lt. “Governor Robinson didn’t spend hours at the video store five nights a week.”

“He did not rent or preview any videos, and he did not purchase any bootleg or other videos from Defendant Money.”

Money said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he stands by his statements and the content of the video clip as truthful: “My story has not changed.”

The former employee of a sex shop told The Meeting that Robinson would even bring free pizza and tell jokes in the style of ’80s comic Andrew “Dice” Clay.

The employee even recorded a song about it his memory of Robinson’s unpaid bill rang ‘The lieutenant governor owes me money’ with his band Trailer Park Orchestra.

The lawsuit, which seeks at least $50 million in damages, says the effort against Robinson “appears to be a coordinated attack aimed at derailing his campaign for governor.”

It provides no evidence that the network or Money conspired with outside groups to create, according to Robinson, false statements.

According to the CNN report, which aired on September 19, Robinson made the statements ten years ago

Robinson also sued Louis Love Money, who claimed in a video clip and in an interview that he visited a porn store where the singer once worked and bought videos.

Jesse Binnall, Robinson’s attorney, said he expects to find more “bad actors” and that entities, which he did not identify, have blocked his company’s efforts to gather information.

“We will use every tool at our disposal now that a lawsuit has been filed, including subpoena power, to continue to pursue the facts,” said Binnall, whose clients include Trump and his campaign.

In North Carolina courts, a public official claiming defamation generally must show that a defendant knew a statement was false or recklessly disregarded its falsity.

Most of the top staff running Robinson’s campaign and his lieutenant governor’s office quit after the CNN report, and the Republican Governors Association, which had already spent millions of dollars on advertising to back Robinson, stopped supporting of his offer.

Democrats, from presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris to state candidates, began running ads linking their opponents to Robinson.

Robinson’s campaign no longer includes TV commercials. He said that “we have chosen to go in a different direction” and focus on in-person campaign stops.

Before the CNN report, Robinson was already facing accusations that he had promoted a number of conspiracy theories.

Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein is running against Robinson in the general election

He previously claimed in a social media post that he was “skeptical” about “everything” he has seen on TV, including 9/11, and the assassination of JFK and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.

Robinson also wrote that he does not believe the moon landing was fake or that September 11 was an “inside job,” but wrote that if he found out it was true, he ‘wouldn’t be surprised.’

The right-wing conservative firebrand has also been a polarizing figure who has come under fire for his past comments about women, Jews, Muslims and members of the LGBTQ community.

Before running for lieutenant governor in 2020, Robinson once wrote that the Black Panther movie was ‘made by an agnostic Jew and put on film by satanic Marxists.’

After the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Florida, which killed 49 people in 2016, he wrote that homosexuality is “STILL a heinous sin” and that he would “NOT join in the celebration of gay pride.”

He also suggested that Ellen DeGeneres, who is openly gay, was a “top-level demon.”

The former sex shop worker said Robinson would bring free pizza and tell jokes in the style of ’80s comic Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay

In messages following the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Robinson called the survivors “spoiled, angry, know-it-all CHILDREN.”

Robinson won the Republican nomination for governor of North Carolina on Super Tuesday in March.

Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein is running against Robinson in the general election.

Stein spokesman Morgan Hopkins said in a statement Tuesday that “even before the CNN report, North Carolinians have long known that Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be governor.”

Hurricane Helene and its aftermath took the CNN report off the front pages. Robinson worked with a central North Carolina sheriff for several days to collect relief supplies and criticized Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper — who was unable to seek reelection because of term limits — for the state government’s response in the initial phase of the relief.

Trump endorsed Robinson before the March gubernatorial election, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids” because of his speaking skills.

Robinson has been a regular at Trump’s campaign stops in North Carolina, but he has not participated in such an event since the CNN report.