Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina, the Republican nominee for governor of the battleground state, on Thursday vowed to stay in the race as CNN reported that he had once called himself a “black NAZI!” and defended slavery on a pornographic messaging board.
In an 82-second video released before the CNN article had published, Mr. Robinson sought to undercut the report, which unearthed old comments that he had reportedly made on “Nude Africa,” a pornographic site with a message board.
Mr. Robinson, who has a long history of inflammatory remarks and has been a strident opponent of transgender rights, made comments about how he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, according to CNN.
On the messaging board, Mr. Robinson described himself as a “perv” who liked “tranny on girl porn,” the report said.
In his Thursday video, Mr. Robinson said: “Let me reassure you. The things that you will see in that story — those are not the words of Mark Robinson.”
CNN said it had chosen to publish only some of the graphic sexual commentary in Mr. Robinson’s postings. He made the comments between 2008 and 2012, according to the report.
To verify that Mr. Robinson was the poster behind the comments, CNN identified the username, “minisoldr,” as one Mr. Robinson used frequently online. In addition to matching biographical details, the report said, Mr. Robinson had listed his full name on the Nude Africa site along with an email address that he had used on various websites “for decades.”
The New York Times was not able to immediately independently verify the posts.
He went on to accuse without evidence his Democratic rival, Attorney General Josh Stein, of being behind the report and said he would not exit the contest, which is one of the nation’s most competitive races for governor this year and is unfolding in a key presidential battleground.
“We are staying in this race,” Mr. Robinson said. “We are in it to win it.”
Mr. Stein’s campaign issued a statement on Thursday afternoon saying, “North Carolinians already know Mark Robinson is completely unfit to be governor. Josh remains focused on winning this campaign so that together we can build a safer, stronger North Carolina for everyone.”
The fallout from Mr. Robinson’s old online comments and his decision to stay in the race could affect the presidential contest, as well.
North Carolina is a state that both former President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are contesting as part of their path to 270 electoral votes. The state was the closest one in the nation that Mr. Trump won four years ago, and Ms. Harris’s team in particular has believed it can make inroads, partly because Mr. Robinson had already attracted so much controversy.
On Thursday, the Harris campaign immediately began trying to link Mr. Robinson to Mr. Trump on social media, highlighting the former president’s praise for him.
Mr. Trump is scheduled to visit North Carolina on Saturday, making the matter unavoidable.
In his video, Mr. Robinson also invoked comments made by the Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is also Black, during his contentious confirmation fight three decades ago.
“Clarence Thomas famously once said he was the victim of a high-tech lynching,” Mr. Robinson said. “Well, it looks like Mark Robinson is, too.”
CNN also reported that Mr. Robinson had written about supporting the return of slavery in the Nude Africa forum.
“Slavery is not bad,” he wrote. “Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.”
CNN also reported that Mr. Robinson wrote that he preferred Adolf Hitler to former President Barack Obama in 2012. “I’d take Hitler over any of the [expletive] that’s in Washington right now!” he wrote.
He also used slurs against Jewish, Black, Muslim and gay people, CNN reported.
In his video, Mr. Robinson tried to dismiss the reporting as “salacious tabloid trash.”
Since the beginning of his campaign, Mr. Robinson has faced scrutiny for a string of inflammatory statements and social media posts, including one that quoted a statement attributed to Adolf Hitler. He has also called the survivors of the Parkland school shooting who have been vocal in supporting gun control measures “spoiled, angry, know-it-all children.”
Mr. Robinson had long been seen as a risky standard-bearer for governor in Republican political circles but he still easily won his party’s nomination. Mr. Trump’s ties to the state were deepened earlier this year when the former president tapped Michael Whatley, then the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, to serve as the chairman of the Republican National Committee.
People close to Mr. Trump, who endorsed Mr. Robinson this year in the Republican primary for governor, had been prepared for a story on Mr. Robinson coming this week, according to a person with direct knowledge of the conversations, amid long-term concerns among establishment Republicans in the state that more damaging information would emerge.
Mr. Trump had declined to have Mr. Robinson attend at least one recent event the former president held in the state. His campaign was also preparing to distance itself further from Mr. Robinson, but did not plan to call on him to drop out, the person with direct knowledge said.
Some close to Mr. Trump’s team had hoped that Mr. Robinson would decide to drop out, so reporters would stop covering his controversies.
Despite Mr. Trump now planning to distance himself, he has long praised Mr. Robinson, hosting a fund-raiser for him at his home in Palm Beach, Fla., last year and appearing alongside him at rallies.
“He’s an outstanding person. I’ve gotten to know him so well and fairly quickly,” Mr. Trump said at the fund-raiser, adding that Mr. Robinson was a “star” and needed to be cherished “like a fine wine.”
In March, Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Robinson at a rally in North Carolina, saying he was “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
And the former president ribbed Mr. Robinson about his weight at another rally in August, saying “ Thank goodness Mark lost a lot of weight over the last couple of months.”
Mr. Robinson was also invited to speak at the Republican National Convention, the party’s most important platform.
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