Mark Robinson: The Controversial Journey and Decision to Drop Lawsuit

Mark Robinson, the former North Carolina lieutenant governor whose scandal-plagued candidacy doomed his gubernatorial bid last year, is dropping his libel lawsuit against CNN.

The CNN Investigation

Weeks before the election, CNN released an investigation that alleged Robinson had left messages on a pornography website calling himself a “black NAZI!”, expressing support for slavery and calling Martin Luther King Jr. “worse than a maggot” — among other racist and homophobic comments.

Political Fallout

The CNN investigation linked Robinson to the comments through a username Robinson used elsewhere on the internet, along with other shared biographical details from the poster on the site. Robinson, a Republican who would have been North Carolina’s first Black governor if he won, publicly denied making any of the posts.

Robinson — who has expressed other controversial statements on abortion and gay rights — vowed to stay in the race, but the report tanked his campaign. His top staff resigned just days after the scandal, then-candidate Donald Trump no longer mentioned him, and top Republicans denounced him — with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) saying he was “unfit to serve.”

Legal Battle with CNN

Robinson filed a libel suit in Wake County in October, arguing that CNN’s exposé of his online history had been “reckless and defamatory.” CNN moved to dismiss the case on the grounds that Robinson’s claim “does not allege any plausible theory of actual malice.”

In a press release on Friday, Robinson announced he asked his legal team to drop the lawsuit.

Political Future

“The fact of the matter is this: the price we have paid in entering the political arena will never be recognized,” Robinson wrote. “There is no dollar amount high enough.”

Robinson’s team had anticipated the report in September, releasing a video preemptively denouncing it as “salacious tabloid trash.” He vowed to stay in the race, though by that point he was trailing the Democratic candidate, now-Gov. Josh Stein, in the polls.

He had previously campaigned alongside Trump, receiving the president’s endorsement in the GOP primary. Robinson had made on-stage appearances at Trump’s rallies, and Trump had praised him as a friend and “better than Martin Luther King.”

Robinson, who had been floated as a primary challenger to Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), said he will not be running for office in 2026, “nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future.”