RALEIGH, N.C. — UPDATE (Oct. 21): Mark Robinson's lawsuit against CNN and Louis Love Money has been amended. Instead of seeking $50 million in damages from CNN and Louis Love Money, the amount indicated in the original lawsuit, Robinson is now only asking for $25,000 from each party.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson 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.
"We are standing and fighting, regardless of who turned and ran away from us, regardless of who doesn't believe us, regardless of who does. We know what the truth is and we are ready to stand and fight," Robinson said.
The Lawsuit
The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, comes less than four weeks after a report that led many fellow Republicans, including presidential nominee Donald Trump, to distance themselves from Robinson’s race for governor. Robinson announced the lawsuit at a news conference in Raleigh.
CNN “chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly disregarding that Lt. Gov. Robinson’s data — including his name, date of birth, passwords, and the email address supposedly associated with the NudeAfrica account — were previously compromised by multiple data breaches,” the lawsuit states.
"When you use information that is taken from data breaches and you don't properly verify that information that was available to anyone on the dark web. For instance, if you take that and then put it as the truth on your website, that can be one thing - that is a reckless disregard for the truth," said Robinson's lawyer Jesse Binnall."
CNN declined to comment, spokesperson Emily Kuhn said in an email, the Associated Press reported.
Robinson is also suing a Guilford County man who made a music video about him. The complaint refers to the defendant as Louis Love Money.
Who is Louis Love Money?
A journalistic hit a job to interfere with elections.
That's what Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and his lawyer are calling the CNN report from September 19, claiming nothing in the report is factual and those responsible will pay.
Louis Love Money, 52, sings in a local punk rock band called Trailer Park Orchestra.
In August, Money released a music video on YouTube titled, "The Lt. Governor Owes Me Money." It accuses Robinson of owing him money for a bootleg porn video. The lawsuit goes on to say that Money was interviewed by major publication The Assembly, in which he claimed Robinson was a regular customer of a porn shop he used to work at.
Money claimed he would come in after working a shift at Papa John's, bring pizza, and watch videos for hours. He says Robinson was one of his top customers.
"He bought, over the years, hundreds of them from me," Money said. "The very last one he didn't pay me for, and I just thought it was a funny story, and the band made a funny song with a funny video."
Robinson said while he did work at Papa Johns, and went over to the adult video store to hang out, he never bought or watched videos.
The complaint states Robinson is seeking damages of $50 million.
The CNN Report
The CNN report said Robinson left statements over a decade ago on the message board in which, in part, he referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” said he enjoyed transgender pornography, said that he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama, and slammed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.”
Polls at the time of the CNN report already showed Democratic rival Josh Stein, the sitting attorney general, with a lead over Robinson.
Robinson's Greensboro roots run deep. Growing up in the city, he attended NC A&T and UNCG. He is an Army Veteran and later became a Greensboro businessman. He is known for his strong political stances. Back in 2018, his message on defending the Second Amendment went viral at a Greensboro City Council meeting. Then in 2020, he was elected to his first political post as Lt. Governor of North Carolina.
Early in-person voting begins Thursday statewide. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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