(WASHINGTON) — Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, released a video statement Thursday afternoon saying he’s staying in the race following damning allegations reported by CNN.
CNN claims that Robinson – under a username he allegedly used frequently online — made several inflammatory comments on a message board of a pornography website more than a decade ago, including one comment where he allegedly referred to himself as a “black NAZI!” ABC News has not confirmed this reporting or the online username allegedly linked to him.
Just before the story was posted, Robinson denied he made the comments and claimed the allegations were “salacious tabloid lies.”
“Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” Robinson said in the video posted on X. “You know my words, you know my character and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before.”
CNN reports the comments were made by Robinson between 2008 and 2012 under the username “minisoldr” on “Nude Africa,” a pornographic website that includes a message board.
CNN said it was able “to identify as Robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and a shared email address between the two,” according to the report.
CNN also reports that under the username used by Robinson on “Nude Africa,” Robinson allegedly describes a memory of “peeping” on women in the shower as a 14-year-old and allegedly also posted about watching transgender pornography. ABC News has not confirmed that the comments were made by Robinson.
ABC News has reached out to the North Carolina Republican Party and has not heard back.
CNN asked Robinson to explain all the matching details in the profile mentioned in the report. Robinson claimed, without providing evidence, that $1 million is being spent through AI to undermine him.
“I’m not going to get into the minutia of how some might manufacture this, these salacious tabloid lies, but I can tell you this: there’s been over $1 million spent on me through AI by a billionaire son who’s bound and determined to destroy me,” he said Thursday to CNN. “The things that people can do with the internet now is incredible, but what I can tell you is this, again, these are not my words.”
Robinson, who is the sitting lieutenant governor, will face off against Democratic nominee Josh Stein, the state’s current attorney general, in November.
“North Carolinians already know Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be Governor,” Stein said in a statement Thursday. “Josh remains focused on winning this campaign so that together we can build a safer, stronger North Carolina for everyone.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
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