Social Media Buzzes Over CNN’s Mark Robinson Exposé

A bombshell CNN report on North Carolina GOP gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson definitely caused a buzz on social media Thursday afternoon.

Shortly before the outlet’s story was released, Robinson attempted to do damage control by saying, “The things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson.”

Robinson, currently his state’s lieutenant governor, also said he would not drop out of the gubernatorial race, in which he currently trails Democratic rival Josh Stein, who polls at around 49% to Robinson’s roughly 40%, according to RealClearPolitics.

CNN’s story accused Robinson of posting repeatedly on a porn website’s message board between 2008 and 2012, with Robinson allegedly describing himself as a “black NAZI” and advocating for the return of slavery.

In other posts, Robinson allegedly said he liked watching transgender pornography, despite making anti-trans comments while running for office.

Robinson also reportedly reminisced about secretly checking out women in public gym showers when he was a teen — a contrast to his recent comments about hoping to “protect our women” by arresting transgender women who use their preferred public bathrooms.

Although CNN presented Robinson with a digital paper trail, he again denied making the comments outlined in its article. He said he wouldn’t “go into minutia” of how the story is incorrect, but seemed to suggest that artificial intelligence had something to do with it.

Despite Robinson’s denials, the CNN story was a big topic of discussion on X, formerly Twitter.

And, yes, people had thoughts. Lots and lots of thoughts.