North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is staying in gubernatorial race amid report of inflammatory comments on message

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson announced Thursday that he is staying in the state’s gubernatorial race as the Republican candidate, despite being accused of making antisemitic comments in the past.

Robinson is facing questions about his political future after a recently released CNN report detailing dozens of inflammatory comments that Robinson reportedly made on a pornography website’s message board between 2008 and 2012, before he began his political career. He has denied making the comments.

“CNN identified the account as belonging to Robinson through his full name being listed on the account, an email address that Robinson used elsewhere and biographical details that line up with his background,” ABC27 News reported. Among the comments is one in which Robinson reportedly referred to himself as a “Black Nazi,” according to CNN.

Robinson, who denied making the comments in a video posted to X on Thursday, claimed that the “news media is at it again” and his “opponent is at it again.” In the video, Robinson alleged that his opponent in the gubernatorial race, Democratic candidate Attorney General Josh Stein, leaked the story to CNN.

“Let me reassure you, the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” the lieutenant governor said. “We are staying in this race, we are in it to win it.”

Stein recently rejected a gubernatorial debate with Robinson, citing Robinson’s history of controversial comments as his reasoning, per The Hill. Recent polls have shown Robinson trailing Stein, by double-digit margins in some surveys, according to MSNBC.