GOP governor nominee Mark Robinson denies report accusing him of making shocking comments on porn site
CORRECTIONS & CLARIFICATIONS: This story has been corrected to reflect Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's accurate title.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson denied a shocking report from CNN on Thursday about comments he allegedly left on a pornographic site, with the North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee staying he will not drop out of the governor’s race.
"Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson," he said in a video on X. He also accused Josh Stein, North Carolina’s attorney general and Robinson’s Democratic opponent, of leaking the story.
The report is sweeping. CNN accuses Robinson of frequenting a pornographic website between 2008 and 2012 and posting a variety of comments that are sexually explicitly, racist, transphobic or insulting in other ways.
He allegedly discussed looking at naked women in public gym showers as a 14 year old boy. The outlet reported that he said he enjoyed pornography featuring transgender people. The accusations extend to making lewd comments about a celebrity having an abortion and a woman being sexually assaulted by a taxi driver.
CNN reported that Robinson also specifically criticized Martin Luther King Jr., repeatedly using profane insults about the civil rights icon. He also allegedly said he wasn’t in the KKK because they do not allow Black people to join, saying that if he was in the hate group, he would refer to King as the devil and another racial slur.
The outlet also reported the Robinson called himself a Black Nazi, and that he supported some degree of slavery in the United States, as well as supporting Nazi leader Adolph Hitler over then-President Barack Obama’s leadership.
CNN says it used email addresses and biographical information like Robinson’s birthdate and wedding date, his dates of service in the Army and other context in its reporting connecting Robinson and the online comments. The account CNN identified wrote in 2011 that their mother worked at a historically Black college and university, and Robinson’s mother worked at North Carolina A&T State University, an HBCU.
Stein's campaign in a statement to USA TODAY said "Josh remains focused on winning this campaign so that together we can build a safer, stronger North Carolina for everyone.”
Asked for a reaction, the Trump campaign did not mention Robinson’s name in a statement from national press secretary Karoline Leavitt: “President Trump’s campaign is focused on winning the White House and saving this country. North Carolina is an vital part of that plan. We are confident that as voters compare the Trump record of a strong economy, low inflation, a secure border, and safe streets, with the failures of Biden-Harris, then President Trump will win the Tarheel State once again. We will not take our eye off the ball.”
The report particularly raised eyebrows because Robinson, a conservative, has criticized abortion rights and transgender rights on the campaign trail. In February, he said the government should arrest trans people if they use bathrooms aligning with their gender.
Stein launched an ad earlier this year featuring Robinson railing against abortion access.
"Abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers," Robinson, the current lieutenant governor of North Carolina, can be seen saying in a 2019 Facebook Live stream. "It's about killing the child because you weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down."
The ad also included a clip of Robinson in 2020 telling a church congregation there is "no compromise on abortion" for him and a segment from a February 2023 radio interview in which Robinson said if governor, he would propose a bill outlawing abortion "for any reason."
Robinson in another ad said his wife had an abortion 30 years ago.
Robinson has falsely called the COVID pandemic a global conspiracy and frequently used antisemitic language including Holocaust denial.
Contributing: Rachel Barber, Will Carless and Savannah Kuchar, David Jackson USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mark Robinson, NC Lt. Governor, denies shocking comments on porn site
