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, 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.
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.
In the forum, Robinson described himself as a “perv” who liked “tranny on girl porn,” the report said.
In his Thursday video, 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 not to publish only some of the graphic sexual commentary in Robinson’s postings. He made the comments between 2008 and 2012, according to the report.
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,” Robinson said. “We are in it to win it.”
Stein’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Robinson invoked Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in his defense.
“Clarence Thomas famously once said he was the victim of a high-tech lynching,” Robinson said. “Well, it looks like Mark Robinson is, too.”
CNN also reported that Robinson had written about supporting the return of slavery.
“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.”
Since the beginning of his campaign, 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.”
People close to former President Donald Trump had been prepared for a story on 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.
Trump had declined to have Robinson attend at least one recent event the former president held in the state. His campaign was also preparing to distance itself further from Robinson but did not plan to call on him to drop out, the person with direct knowledge said.
Some close to Trump’s team had hoped that Robinson would decide to drop out, so reporters would stop covering his controversies.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
