The current lieutenant governor for North Carolina as well as the primary Republican candidate in the state’s election for governor, Mark Robinson, has denied accusations that he called himself a “black NAZI!,” which stemmed from a CNN report published Thursday, vowing he will stay in the race.
Robinson, 56, who has previously made public problematic comments, is endorsed by Donald Trump and his presidential campaign as a potential elected leader in a key battleground state for the November election. He was accused of making various derogatory comments aimed at the Black community on a pornography website called “Nude Africa.” This included the title he allegedly ascribed to himself and that he proposed bringing back slavery on the forum.
CNN also alleged Robinson posted a series of “gratuitously sexual and lewd” posts on the website dating from 2008 to 2012 before he entered politics under the username “minisoldr.” What’s more, the report indicated that it was only disclosing a small portion of the controversial comments, given their graphic nature. According to CNN, many of these posts contradicted his public stances on issues such as abortion and transgender rights.
In one October 2010 post on the pornography site, CNN said Robinson wrote: “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it [slavery] back. I would certainly buy a few.”
Prior to the report being published, Robinson posted a video on a social media denying the allegations, asserting the story was spreading misinformation and that it was a tactic of his opponent Josh Stein’s campaign.
“Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story – those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” the lieutenant governor said, calling the CNN report “salacious tabloid lies.”
“We are staying in this race,” he added.
The North Carolina Republican Party came to Robinson’s defense, arguing that Democrats were using a smear campaign to hurt his campaign for governor.
“Mark Robinson has categorically denied the allegations made by CNN but that won’t stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks,” the party said in a statement.
Following the CNN story’s release, the Harris campaign posted video clips of Trump praising Robinson. The Trump campaign has not yet commented on the allegations, yet the former president is holding a rally on Saturday in the state.
Meanwhile Stein, the Democratic nominee for governor and the attorney general of North Carolina, has featured some of Robinson’s alleged controversial comments in targeted TV ads, and his campaign issued a statement condemning him on Thursday.
“North Carolinians already know Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be governor. Josh remains focused on winning this campaign so that together we can build a safer, stronger North Carolina for everyone,” Stein’s campaign said.
Under North Carolina law, the deadline for Robinson to withdraw from the race would have been Thursday at 11:59 p.m., which is the day before the state begins sending absentee ballots to military and overseas voters. That deadline has now passed.
