(NewsNation) — Martin Luther King III said Americans should vote to keep a North Carolina gubernatorial nominee out of office, following reports that he disparaged the civil rights leader and condoned slavery in posts on a porn site message board.
North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson denies that he made comments claiming to be a “black NAZI!” and supported reinstating slavery, as alleged in a Thursday CNN investigative report.
“We must work to ensure Mark Robinson gets nowhere near the governor’s office,” King said in a statement he posted to social media.
The account reportedly belonging to Robinson posted several deprecating comments about Martin Luther King Jr. in 2011, CNN reported. Those include claims that the minister and activist was a communist and “worse than a maggot,” among other disparaging and profane remarks.
“I am not surprised by Mark Robinson’s alleged inflammatory and offensive comments about my father, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His praise for slavery, disparaging rhetoric, and grotesque characterization of my dad and his legacy are deeply worrisome for North Carolinians and all Americans who oppose racism and bigotry,” Martin Luther King III said.
Robinson faced calls to drop out of the governor’s race following the reports, which a spokesperson called “absurd nonsense” and which Robinson blamed on campaign politics.
“Well, guys, the news media is at it again. My opponent is at it again,” Robinson said in a post on his X page. “Our opponents are desperate to shift the focus from the substantive issues … to salacious tabloid trash.”
Former President Donald Trump has lauded Robinson as a civil rights icon, calling him “Martin Luther King on steroids,” during a March rally in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“I told that to Mark. I said, ‘I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,’” Trump said.