CNN
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Offensive posts from North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson were removed from the pornographic website Nude Africa on Thursday, hours after a CNN KFile investigation revealed a series of inflammatory comments posted on the forum by the controversial and socially conservative Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina.
It is unclear whether the comments were deleted by Robinson or by Nude Africa administrators. Neither the Robinson campaign nor Nude Africa responded to CNN’s inquiries.
Robinson denies making the comments, which were made between 2008 and 2012 — before he entered politics and is now serving as lieutenant governor — and run counter to his public positions on issues including abortion and transgender rights.
Robinson listed his full name on his profile for Nude Africa, a pornographic website that includes a chat room, as well as an email address he has used on numerous websites across the Internet for decades.
The comments, often sexual and obscene in nature, were written under the username minisoldr, a pseudonym Robinson frequently uses online. CNN was able to identify the username as Robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and an email address shared by the two.
Robinson has commented on issues of race, gender, and abortion in his posts. In some, he has described himself as a “black NAZI!” and expressed support for the restoration of slavery. In others, he has discussed his affinity for transgender pornography — despite a recent history of anti-transgender rhetoric.
In the wake of the revelations, pressure has mounted on Robinson, who is currently running against Democrat Josh Stein to succeed Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, to withdraw from the race. But the deadline under state law for Robinson to remove his name from the ballot passed Thursday without him doing so, and the state’s first absentee ballots were scheduled to be mailed out Friday.
The key state is a target for former President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
As Harris’ campaign sought to quickly link Trump to Robinson, sharing photos of the couple together on social media, Trump’s campaign declined to say Thursday whether Robinson should drop out of the gubernatorial race.
“President Trump’s campaign is focused on winning the White House and saving this country. North Carolina is a critical part of that plan,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement that did not directly respond to the report.
“We are confident that if voters compare Trump’s record of a strong economy, low inflation, a secure border and safe streets to the failures of Biden-Harris, President Trump will win the Tarheel State again. We will not lose sight of the goal,” Leavitt continued.
The former president threw his support behind Robinson at an event in North Carolina earlier this year, where he called Robinson “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
