WARNING: GRAPHIC MATERIAL
North Carolina's Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson denied any involvement in a pornography scandal that surfaced on Thursday and vowed to continue running for the state's next governor's election.
CNN published a story Thursday afternoon alleging that Robinson had previously used a pornography website called “Nude Africa,” where he had allegedly exchanged messages with other users about spying on women in locker rooms as a teenager, calling himself a “black Nazi” and his preference for transgender porn.
Shortly before the report was released, Robinson posted a video to his X account in which he called the then-expected report “tabloid trash” and vowed to continue his campaign.
“Please be assured that what you see in this article are not the words of Mark Robinson. You know my words, you know my character, you know I have been fully transparent in this campaign and before. Friends, in this campaign my opponents are desperately trying to shift the focus away from the substantive issues and towards the salacious trappings and tabloid rubbish that you are concerned about,” he said in the X video.
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North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson attended a “Go Vote” rally with former President Trump in Greensboro on March 2, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CNN reports: Robinson, using the pseudonym “minisoldr” on the porn site, allegedly talked about how he enjoyed watching transgender porn and how, when he was 14, he allegedly spied on women in locker rooms.
“I came to a dead end where there were two big vent covers! Which happened to overlook the showers! I sat there for about an hour watching a few girls come in and shower,” Robinson allegedly wrote in Nude Africa about peeping on women as a teenager.
In another post from 2010, CNN reported that Robinson, while discussing black Republicans, said, “I'm a black Nazi!”
According to CNN, the alleged use of chat forums took place between 2008 and 2012, long before Robinson entered politics in 2019 when he announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor.
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Robinson accused his Democratic opponent, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, of leaking the allegations to the media.
“North Carolinians already know that Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be Governor. Josh remains focused on winning this race so that we can work together to build a safer and stronger North Carolina for everyone,” Stein's campaign told Fox News Digital.
Robinson again denied the reports in comments to CNN.
“These are not ours. They are not our words. And they do not represent me,” Robinson said. “I will not get into the finer points of who invented this salacious tabloid lie.”
Reports began piling up early Thursday that Robinson was under pressure from Republican allies to drop out of the race amid rumors he might face a smear campaign report linked to allegations that he used adult websites in the 2000s.
Before the CNN report was published, Robinson's campaign communications director said the report was false.
“No matter who the source is, this is complete fiction,” communications director Michael Lonergan told the Carolina Journal on Thursday.
Fox News Digital reached out to Robinson on Thursday but did not immediately receive a response.
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North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson speaks at the Path to a Faith and Freedom Majority conference at the Washington Hilton on June 21, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) issued a statement in response to the CNN report, calling it “the latest evidence that Mark Robinson is psychopathic, dangerous, and completely unfit to serve as Governor.”
“While many Republicans are now warning about the damage Robinson could inflict if he becomes governor, it's clear that the stakes have never been higher and we must keep our foot on the gas to defeat him in November,” said Izzy Levy, deputy director of communications for the DGA.
North Carolina Republican Rep. Richard Hudson told Fox News that “these allegations are very disturbing” but that he was not asking Robinson to drop out of the race and wanted “an opportunity to explain to the people of North Carolina exactly how these allegations are not true.”
“My hope is that the governor can reassure North Carolinians that these allegations are not true,” Hudson said.
Lt. Governor Mark Robinson speaks during a campaign event at Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 14, 2024. (Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)
North Carolina Outlets The Assembly On September 3, the department released another lengthy report that compiled testimony from former employees and customers who said Robinson regularly visited pornography stores and viewed material in private rooms. The report said Robinson's alleged visits to adult stores took place in the 1990s and 2000s, before he entered politics.
Mr Lonergan rejected the findings of the parliamentary report, describing it as a “complete fabrication”.
“This false personal attack on my boss is a complete fabrication,” Lonergan told the outlet.
Robinson will become North Carolina's lieutenant governor in 2021, becoming the first African-American to hold the position. She announced her candidacy for governor last April.
North Carolina's Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson is running to replace Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
Before he was elected to politics, Robinson made headlines in 2018 when he gave an impassioned speech on gun control to a Greensboro City Council meeting, as local leaders debated whether to cancel gun shows following the Parkland, Florida, school shooting that year.
There are “I Voted” stickers on the tables at the polling station.
“I'm a law-abiding citizen and I've never shot anyone,” Robinson said at the rally, which has been viewed 200 million times. “Every time one of these shootings happens, nobody holds the shooter accountable. You want to blame me. You want to restrict my rights instead.”
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He is a former furniture factory worker in North Carolina and an Army veteran. He later rose through the Republican political ladder. Former President Trump and the NRA.
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