ย Mark Robinson, the controversial and socially conservative Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina,โฏmade a series of inflammatory comments on a pornography websiteโs message board more than a decade ago, in which he referred to himself as a โblack NAZI!โ and expressed support for reinstating slavery, a CNN KFile investigation found.
Despite a recent history of anti-transgender rhetoric, Robinson said he enjoyed watching transgender pornography, a review of archivedโฏmessages found in which he also referred to himself as a โperv.โ
The comments, which Robinson denies making, predate his entry into politics and current stint as North Carolinaโs lieutenant governor. They were made under a username that CNN was able to identify as Robinson by matching a litany of biographical details and a shared email address between the two.
Many of Robinsonโs comments were gratuitously sexual and lewd in nature. They were made between 2008 and 2012 on โNude Africa,โ a pornographic website that includes a message board. The comments were made under the username minisoldr, a moniker Robinson used frequently online.
Robinson listed his full name on his profile for Nude Africa, as well as an email address he used on numerous websites across the internet for decades.
CNN is reporting only a small portion of Robinsonโs comments on the website given their graphic nature.
Many of Robinsonโs comments on Nude Africa stand in contrast to his public stances on issues such as abortion and transgender rights.
Publicly, Robinson has fiercely argued that people should use bathrooms only that correspond to the gender they were assigned at birth. Heโs also said transgender women should be arrested for using womenโs restrooms.
โIf youโre a man on Friday night, and all the sudden Saturday, you feel like a woman, and you want to go in the womenโs bathroom in the mall, you will be arrested, or whatever we gotta do to you,โย Robinson saidย at a campaign rally in February 2024. โWeโre going to protect our women.โ
Yet privately under the username minisoldr on Nude Africa, Robinson graphically described his own sexual arousal as an adult from the memory of secretly โpeepingโ on women in public gym showers as a 14-year-old. Robinson recounted the story as a memory he said he still fantasized about.
โI came to a spot that was a dead end but had two big vent covers over it! It just so happened it overlooked the showers! I sat there for about an hour and watched as several girls came in and showered,โ Robinson wrote on Nude Africa.
CNN is not publishing the graphic sexual details of Robinsonโs story.
โI went peeping again the next morning,โ Robinson wrote. โbut after that I went back the ladder was locked! So those two times where [sic] the only times I got to do it! Ahhhhh memories!!!!โ
In other comments on Nude Africa, Robinson discussed his affinity for transgender pornography.
โI like watching tranny on girl porn! Thatโs f*cking hot! It takes the man out while leaving the man in!โ Robinson wrote. โAnd yeah Iโm a โpervโ too!โ
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Robinson repeatedly denied that he made the comments on Nude Africa.
โThis is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me,โ Robinson said. Presented with the litany of evidence connecting him with the minisoldr user name on Nude Africa, Robinson said, โIโm not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies.โ
CNN first reached out to Robinson Tuesday morning with evidence connecting him to the comments on Nude Africa. It took his campaign two days to respond and issue a denial.
During his interview with CNN, Robinsonย repeatedly said the issues that faced North Carolinians were more important than what he called โtabloid trash,โย and he steered the conversation toward attacking his opponent in the race, Democrat Josh Stein, the stateโs attorney general.
โWe are not getting out of this race. There are people who are counting on us to win this race,โ Robinson said.
Campaigning for lieutenant governor in 2020, Robinson advocatedย for a complete abortion banย without exceptions. Heย later expressed regretย in 2022 for paying for his now-wife to have an abortion in the 1980s.
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Now campaigning for governor,ย he says he supportsย a so-called โheartbeatโ bill that would ban abortion when a heartbeat is detected โ approximately six weeks โ with exceptions for rape, incest and health of the mother.
But writing as minisoldr on Nude Africa in December 2010, Robinson said he did not care about a celebrity having an abortion.
โI donโt care. I just wanna see the sex tape!โ Robinson wrote.
In another thread, commenters considered whether to believe the story of a woman who said she was raped by her taxi driver while intoxicated. In response, Robinson wrote, โand the moral of this storyโฆ.. Donโt f**k a white b*tch!โ
Robinson, who would become North Carolinaโs first Black governor if elected, also repeatedly maligned civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., attacking him in such intense terms that a user accused him of being a white supremacist.
โGet that f*cking commie bastard off the National Mall!,โ Robinson wrote about the dedication of the memorial to King in Washington, DC, by then-President Barack Obama.
โIโm not in the KKK. They donโt let blacks join. If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer Koon!โ Robinson responded.
CNNโs reporting on Robinsonโs comments comes a few weeks after The Assembly, a North Carolina digital publication,ย reportedย that Robinson frequented local video pornography shops in the 1990s and 2000s. The story cited six people who interacted and saw him frequent the stores in Greensboro, North Carolina. A spokesperson for Robinson called the story false and a โcomplete fiction.โ
Despite earning the full endorsement of former President Donald Trump and the North Carolina Republican Party, Robinson faces an uphill battle in the race for governor against Stein.
Robinsonโs history of controversial remarks, includingย mocking school shooting survivors, hisย past support for total abortion bans without exceptions for rape or incestย andย disparaging the civil rights movementย have been a consistent theme in the race. Recent publicย polling showsย Robinson is losing to Stein.
North Carolina GOP nominee for governor responds to CNN report about his disturbing comments on porn forum
On the Nude Africa website in both comments and his profile, minisoldr offered numerous details that align precisely with Robinsonโs personal history.
In his profile, minisoldr listed his full name as โmark robinsonโ and disclosed a private email address Robinson used elsewhere online. In 2012, a user responded to a comment by calling minisoldr โMark.โ
Minisoldr mentioned in 2008 being married for 18 years, which corresponds with Robinsonโs marriage to Yolanda Hill in 1990. In 2011, minisoldr wrote he had been married 21 years. Minisoldr wrote in a 2011 post that he lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, the same town where Robinson lived at the time and currently lives.
In a post in 2012, minisoldr said he served in the Army in the 1980s, during the same time period as Robinson. In his sexually graphic comments detailing watching women in the showers in 2011, minisoldr wrote that his mother worked at an Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Robinsonโs mother worked as a custodian at North Carolina A&T State University, an HBCU located in Greensboro.
Both minisoldr and Robinson often posted about the same topics online, including reviews for remote-controlled helicopters, their attraction to specific celebrities and their favorite โTwilight Zoneโ episode.
The email address associated with minisoldr on Nude Africa was also used by Robinson elsewhere online and social media. On the commenting platform Disqus,ย a user who joinedย in April 2011 features Mark Robinsonโs photo under the username minisoldr.
Usernames and email addresses from Disqus were publicly leaked online in 2017,ย accordingย to the company. CNN confirmed that Robinsonโs username minisoldr on Disqus shared the same email address as the one used on Nude Africa.
Robinsonโs Disqus page is also linked to the Black social networking site Black Planet. Theย Web Archive showsย a user named โminisoldrโ described themselves as 40 years old in February 2009 โ the same age as Robinson at the time โ and living in Greensboro, North Carolina โ Robinsonโs hometown.
Robinson has frequently used the username โminisoldrโ elsewhere on the internet. On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Robinson once used the minisoldr username, according to a screenshot heย shared on Facebookย in 2018 andย dataย inย Robinsonโs old tweets.
A YouTubeย playlist for a userย named โminisoldrโ features exclusively videos of Robinson. Onย Pinterest, a user โminisoldrโ lists his name as โMark Robinson.โ
The โminisoldrโ username has also posted reviews of products and places Robinson has also publicly recommended. On Amazon, a user named โminisoldrโ reviewed productsย frequently sharedย by Robinson on Facebook, including remote-controlled helicopters. And the same email address and username used on Nude Africa also left reviews on Google for two local businesses Robinson later posted on Facebook that he used.
Robinsonโs unique choice of language further links him to the โminisoldrโ alias on the pornographic forums. Uncommon phrases such as โgag a maggot,โ โdunder head,โ โI donโt give a frogs a**,โ and โI donโt give two shakes of itโ were used both by minisoldr on Nude Africa and by Robinson on his personal Facebook page.
In the pornographic forums, Robinson revealed his unvarnished thoughts on issues such as race, gender and abortion.
Writing in a forum discussing Black Republicans in October 2010, Robinson stated unprovoked: โIโm a black NAZI!โ
That same month, Robinson wrote in another post that he supported the return of slavery.
โSlavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few,โ he wrote.
In March 2012, Robinson wrote that he preferred the former leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler over the leadership in Washington during the administration of Barack Obama.
โIโd take Hitler over any of the sh*t thatโs in Washington right now!โ he wrote.
Robinsonโs comments on Nude Africa often frequently contained derogatory and racial slurs directed at Black, Jewish and Muslim people.
In a series of seven posts in October 2011, Robinson disparaged Martin Luther King in such intense terms, calling him a โcommie bastard,โ โworse than a maggot,โ a โho f**king, phony,โ and a โhuckster,โ that a user in the thread accused him of being in the KKK. Robinson responded by directing a slur at King.
In October 2010, Robinson used the antisemitic slur โhebeโ when discussing how he liked the show โGood Timesโ developed by Norman Lear, saying โthe show itself was a bunch of heb [sic] written liberal bullshit!โ
While discussing the Taliban, he referred to Muslims as โlittle rag-headed bastardsโ and said that โif Muslims took over liberals would be the 1st ones to be beheaded!โ
Robinson also used homophobic slurs frequently, calling other users f*gs.
In a largely positive forum discussion featuring a photo of two men kissing after one returned from a military deployment, Robinson wrote the sole negative comment.
โThatโs sum ole sick a** f*ggot bullsh*t!โ he wrote.