CNN
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Offensive posts by 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 nominee for governor of North Carolina.
It’s unclear whether the comments were removed by Robinson or Nude Africa administrators. Neither the Robinson campaign nor Nude Africa responded to inquiries from CNN.
Robinson denies making the comments, which were made between 2008 and 2012 – predating his entry into politics and current tenure as lieutenant governor – and stand counter to his public stances on issues such as abortion and transgender rights.
Robinson listed his full name on his profile for Nude Africa, a pornographic website that includes a message board, as well as an email address he used on numerous websites across the internet for decades.
Many gratuitously sexual and lewd in nature, the comments were made under the username minisoldr, a moniker Robinson used frequently online. CNN was able to identify the username as Robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and a shared email address between the two.
Robinson commented on issues of race, gender and abortion in posts. In some, he referred to himself as a “black NAZI!” and expressed support for reinstating slavery. In others, he discussed his affinity for transgender pornography – despite a recent history of anti-transgender rhetoric.
Following the revelations, pressure mounted on Robinson, who is currently in a competitive race against Democrat Josh Stein to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, to exit 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 set to be mailed out Friday.
The battleground state is a target for former President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
While the Harris campaign sought to swiftly tie Trump to Robinson, sharing photos on social media of the pair together, 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 an vital part of that plan,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told CNN in a statement that did not directly address the reporting.
“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,” Leavitt continued.
The former president gave Robinson his endorsement at a North Carolina event earlier this year, during which he referred to Robinson as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
