North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is doubling down on his denial of a devastating CNN story revealing sexually explicit and racially charged comments he made online over a decade ago.
In his first public appearance since the news broke on Thursday, Robinson dismissed the allegations as “garbage” and said he is focusing on the issues affecting voters.
“While everybody else wants to focus on the garbage, and the trash that tries to besmirch people, we’re out here telling people about what we want to do, how we want to partner with you to make this state better and help North Carolina be better,” Robinson said at a meet-and-greet in Fayetteville on Saturday, according to WRAL.
A CNN report on Thursday revealed several inflammatory comments Robinson made on a pornography website’s message board under the username ‘minisoldr’ between 2008 and 2012.
In the messages, Robinson referred to himself as a “black NAZI, expressed support for reinstating slavery, repeatedly use homophobic slurs and fondly recalled “peeping” on women, among other comments, some of which CNN excluded from their report for being to graphic.
Robinson has denied these claims, saying the porn message board comments were not made by him.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) suggested that Robinson should take legal action against CNN or leave the race.
“If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total media fabrication, he needs to take immediate legal action,” Tillis said in a Friday post on X. “If the reporting is true, he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take accountability for his actions and put the future of NC & our party before himself.”
