created by a_Ninja_b0y on 03/02/2025 at 14:18 UTC
121 upvotes, 3 top-level comments (showing 3)
Comment by Tbelles at 03/02/2025 at 14:45 UTC
27 upvotes, 0 direct replies
HAHAHAHA. What a tool. Anyway, if you didn't wanna click:
North Carolina’s anti-LGBTQ+ former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) has dropped his libel lawsuit against CNN for its bombshell 2024 report linking him to racist, pro-nazi, and homophobic comments he made on the explicit adult website NudeAfrica between 2008 and 2012. He also said he has no plans ever to run for public political office again.
Robinson lost his gubernatorial bid two months after CNN’s report. He initially claimed that the comments had somehow been fabricated by artificial intelligence (AI) even though they had been timestamped from over a decade ago and connected to profiles containing his name, personal email address, and other identifying information.
CNN’s September 2024 report detailed comments in which Robinson declared himself a “Black Nazi,” expressed support for slavery and Adolf Hitler, used racist language to mock civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., admitted to spying on women in showers, declared his love of transgender porn, and shared details of possibly-fantasy threesomes with his sister-in-law/
Immediately following the report’s publication, previously supportive Republicans began distancing themselves from Robinson’s campaign, including then-presidential candidate Donald Trump who has once called him “Martin Luther King on steroids.” Most of the top staff in Robinson’s campaign and lieutenant governor’s office resigned shortly after the report's publication.
Robinson immediately denied the report, saying, “Look, I’m not going to get into the minutia about how somebody manufactured these salacious tabloid lies, but I can tell you this: There’s been over one million dollars spent on me through AI by a billionaire’s son who’s bound and determined to destroy me.”
“The things that people can do with the Internet now is incredible,” he continued. “These are not my words. This is simply tabloid trash being used as a distraction from the substantive issues that the people of this state are facing.”
One month after the article’s publication, Robinson filed a libel suit accusing CNN’s article of being “reckless and defamatory” and claiming that Robinson’s online data from NudeAfrica “were previously compromised by multiple data breaches.” The suit sought $50 million in damages.
However, in a January 31 post thread on X, he wrote that he had asked his lawyer to drop the suit, writing, “The fact of the matter is this: the price we have paid in entering the political arena will never be recognized. There is no dollar amount high enough.”
“The investigation of CNN and their ‘sources’ yielded tremendous results and brought closure to our family during what has been an unimaginably dark situation,” he added, though he didn’t mention any specific evidence to back his accusations against CNN’s reporting.
“I will not run next year, nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future,” he continued.
Previous to CNN’s report Robinson had gained infamy by stating that he considers LGBTQ+ people to be “filthy” “demons” who “mentally rape” children. Among his many anti-LGBTQ+ commments, he called homosexuality “an abominable sin,” compared LGBTQ+ people to cow dung, and Satanic demons, and said trans people should defecate on public street corners outside rather than using bathrooms matching their gender identity.
He has also made numerous racist and antisemitic comments. He also wrote on social media, later adding, “Note to liberals; I’ll accept ‘Gay Pride’ when you accept ‘White Pride.’” He has also made comments denying the Holocaust and said that abortions are only for women that cannot keep their skirts on.
Comment by DarkQueenGndm at 03/02/2025 at 19:10 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Mark Robinson: No whammies, no whammies, big bucks, no whammies, stop!!!
Whammy: No cash for you, and no political career too.
Comment by SenorSplashdamage at 03/02/2025 at 20:22 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Even if his lawsuit would have been thrown out in other eras, this is a win right now for journalism and the chilling effect that can happen when smaller news sources can’t afford the lawyers needed to deal with this.