CNN report said North Carolina candidate for governor made explicit posts on website’s message board

Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, announced a lawsuit Tuesday against CNN over its recent report alleging he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board, calling the reporting reckless and defamatory.

The lawsuit, filed in Wake county superior court, comes less than four weeks after a television report that led many fellow GOP elected officials and candidates, including Donald Trump, to distance themselves from Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign. Robinson announced the lawsuit at a news conference in Raleigh.

  • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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    18 days ago

    I’m going out on a limb, just a hunch really, and I think CNN will come out of this just fine. Robinson is the man with a shovel, and he’s gonna dig.

    • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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      18 days ago

      i’d venture to guess they wouldn’t publish something like this without some pretty ironclad “beyond a reasonable doubt” proof it was him

      • Addv4@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Its pretty obvious. They use the idea of reasonable doubt in the investigation, but then point out specific instances of him basically saying the same thing on both Twitter and Nude Africa, using terms of phrase that are very uncommon, generally on the same day. It was pretty damning.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Robinson’s entire defense so far has been to claim this is a hoax and when asked how posts on pages going back years can be hoaxed, he gives a “trust me, bro” response.

      • ZeroCool@slrpnk.net
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        18 days ago

        Yeah, the dude got caught dead to rights. This is a poor attempt at damage control but an excellent example of the Streisand effect. Whether he wins or loses in November I expect the suit will be dropped after the election because he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

        • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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          18 days ago

          Whether he wins or loses in November

          NC went to trump in 2020, but had also reelected cooper (D) for governor. robinson’s been polling at 40% or below against stein’s >50%, so it’s looking pretty grim for black nazi

          • Rhaedas@fedia.io
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            18 days ago

            This is an unfortunate tradition of having a Democrat governor but Republican for NC Congress and higher. It’s no indicator of any potential. However, I do think we have another chance to do 2008 again, despite all the work the GOP has put into preventing more voters.