North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson sued CNN on Tuesday over its report that he made comments on the pornographic forum Nude Africa, where he called himself a “pervert” and a “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 the outgoing Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
Robinson, who announced the lawsuit at a news conference in Raleigh with a Virginia attorney, denied being the author of the messages.
CNN “chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly ignoring that Lt. Governor Robinson’s data, including his name, date of birth, passwords, and the email address allegedly associated with the NudeAfrica account, was previously compromised by multiple data breaches” , the lawsuit says. he 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 has been attacked from day one by people who disagree with me politically and want to see me destroyed.” “.
North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson sued CNN on Tuesday over its report that he made comments on the porn forum Nude Africa where he called himself a “pervert” and a “black Nazi.”
CNN “chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly ignoring that Lt. Governor Robinson’s data…was previously compromised by multiple data breaches,” the lawsuit states.
CNN declined to comment Tuesday, spokeswoman Emily Kuhn said in an email.
The CNN report, which first aired on September 19, said Robinson left statements more than a decade ago on the message board in which he, in part, referred to himself as a “black Nazi.” He said he enjoyed transgender porn and said he preferred Hitler. to then-President Barack Obama, and criticized the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a worm.”
The network’s report said it compared account details on the message board to Robinson’s other online accounts by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name.
CNN reported that the details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information.
The network also said it compared figures of speech that frequently appeared on his public Twitter profile with those that appeared in the account’s discussions on the pornographic website.
Polls at the time of CNN’s reporting already showed Democratic rival Josh Stein, the incumbent attorney general, with a lead over Robinson.
Early in-person voting begins Thursday across the state and more than 57,000 completed absentee ballots have been received so far.
In the same defamation suit, Robinson also sued a singer in a Greensboro punk rock band who alleged in a music video and in a media interview that Robinson frequented a pornography shop where the singer 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 attacked from day one 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 online images with the lieutenant governor.
Louis Love Money, the other named defendant, posted the video and spoke to other media outlets before CNN’s report.
Robinson denies the allegation contained in the lawsuit, which reads: ‘Lieutenant. Governor Robinson didn’t spend hours at the video store, five nights a week.
“He was not renting or watching videos, and he did not purchase ‘bootleg’ or other videos from Defendant Money.”
Money said in a phone interview Tuesday that he stands by his statements and the content of the music video as true: “My story hasn’t changed.”
The former employee of a sex shop said The Assembly that Robinson would even bring free pizza and tell jokes in the style of 80s comedian Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay.
The employee even recorded a song about his memory of Robinson’s unpaid bill, called ‘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 designed to derail his gubernatorial campaign.”
It provides no evidence that the network or Money conspired with outside groups to create what Robinson alleges are false statements.
The CNN report, which aired Sept. 19, said Robinson made the remarks a decade ago.
Robinson also sued Louis Love Money, who alleged in a music video and in an interview that he frequented a porn shop 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 hindered his firm’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 investigate the facts,” said Binnall, whose clients include Trump and his campaign.
In North Carolina courts, a public official alleging defamation generally must prove that the defendant knew a statement was false or recklessly ignored its falsehood.
Most of the senior staff running Robinson’s campaign and his lieutenant governor’s office resigned after the CNN report, and the Republican Governors Association, which had already spent millions of dollars on advertising endorsing Robinson, stopped supporting his candidacy.
Democrats, from Vice President Kamala Harris to down-ballot state candidates, began running ads linking their opponents to Robinson.
Robinson’s campaign is no longer running television ads. He said “we’ve chosen to go in a different direction” and focus on in-person campaign stops.
Before the CNN report, Robinson had already faced accusations of having promoted a series of conspiracy theories.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein faces Robinson in general election
He previously stated in a social media post that he was “skeptical” about “everything” he had seen on television, including 9/11, and the assassination of JFK and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
Robinson also posted that he does not believe the moon landing was fake or that 9/11 was an “inside job,” but wrote that if he found out it was true, “I 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 movie Black Panther was ‘created by an agnostic Jew and filmed by satanic Marxists.
After the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida that left 49 people dead in 2016, he wrote that homosexuality “is STILL an abominable sin” and that he would “NOT join the “gay pride celebration.”
He also suggested that Ellen DeGeneres, who is openly gay, was a “high-ranking demon.”
The former sex shop employee said Robinson would bring free pizza and tell jokes in the style of 1980s comedian Andrew ‘Dice’ Clay.
In posts after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, Robinson called the survivors “Spoiled, angry, know-it-all KIDS.”
Robinson clinched the Republican nomination for governor of North Carolina on Super Tuesday in March.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein faces Robinson in the general election.
Stein spokesman Morgan Hopkins said in a statement Tuesday that “even before CNN’s report, North Carolinians had long known that Mark Robinson was unfit to be governor.”
Hurricane Helene and its aftermath pushed CNN’s report off the front pages. Robinson worked for several days with a central North Carolina sheriff collecting relief supplies and criticized Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who because of term limits cannot seek re-election, for the state government’s response in the initial stages of the aid. .
Trump endorsed Robinson before the March gubernatorial primary, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids” for his speaking ability.
Robinson had frequently been present at Trump campaign stops in North Carolina, but has not participated in such an event since CNN’s report.