North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson called himself a “black Nazi!” on a pornography site message board, according to a new CNN report about the current lieutenant governor, who is already known for his scandals and controversial comments.
CNN reported that Robinson called her a “pervert” because she “likes watching transgender porn” in the archived messages, which were posted between 2008 and 2012 on Nude Africa, a pornography site with message boards.
He has also voiced support for bringing back slavery: “Slavery is not a bad thing. Some people need to be slaves. Bring back slavery. I’d definitely buy a few,” he wrote in October 2010.
In March 2012, during the Obama administration, he wrote: “I choose Hitler over all the bullshit going on in Washington right now!”
Robinson, North Carolina’s first Black lieutenant governor, will face off against state Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat, in November. As rumors circulated about Thursday’s CNN report, Republicans are reportedly pressuring Robinson to withdraw from the race. The deadline for candidates to withdraw from the race in North Carolina also ended Thursday, and the deadline to remove his name from the ballot has passed.
In a video posted to social media, Robinson accused his opponent of leaking information to CNN, a claim he strongly denies.
“You know my words. You know my character,” Robinson said, “and you know I have been completely transparent during this campaign and before. Friends, in this campaign, my opponents are trying desperately to shift the focus from substantive issues to what you all are concerned about – salacious tabloid nonsense. We cannot allow that.”
Robinson likened the incident to the “high-tech lynching” of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his fiery confirmation hearings 30 years ago. “We’re not going to let them do that. We’re staying in the race. We’re fighting to win,” he said.
The CNN article details a decades-long link between the “minisoldr” identity on the chat message board and an email address known to belong to Robinson.
Republicans already control the North Carolina state legislature, so a Robinson victory would give Republicans unilateral control over policymaking in a key battleground state.
Robinson has a history of making controversial statements. He described COVID-19 as a “globalist” plot to destroy Donald Trump. In 2021, he called transgender people and gay people “filth” and said gay people are the same as “cow residue,” “maggots” and “flies.”
Robinson hasn’t led a poll since June, and a recent Emerson College poll showed him trailing by eight points.
North Carolina is a key battleground state in the presidential election. The Carolina Journal, a conservative North Carolina policy publication, reported today that the Trump campaign has asked Robinson to withdraw from the race and will no longer be allowed on stage with the former president. Trump gave Robinson his full endorsement in March, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
The CNN article quoted Robinson as saying in a 2011 post that he used obscene and racist slurs against King, calling him a “communist bastard,” a “maggot,” a “fake” and a “con man.”
“I am not a member of the KKK. They do not accept black people into the organization,” Robinson wrote, according to CNN. “If I was a member of the KKK I would call him Martin Lucifer Coon!”
