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.

  • andrewta@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    This will be an interesting court case.

    If cnn can prove what they reported then he’s just digging a deeper hole.

    If cnn can’t prove it they are in deep doggy doo doo.

    • Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io
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      2 months 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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        2 months 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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          2 months 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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        2 months 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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          2 months 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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            2 months 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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              2 months 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.

    • wjrii@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      If cnn can’t prove it they are in deep doggy doo doo.

      Not really. They came with the receipts, showing time after time that the commenter shared personal details and used indiosyncratic turns of phrase that Robinson repeated on public accounts and forums. They had a very reasonable belief that it was true, and never claimed more than that. In the US, for a public figure, that’s generally more than enough.

    • thesohoriots@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Either way someone’s getting that doo-doo feces thrown all over the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and it will stink so bad