Mark
Robinson
does
not
go
to
porn
shops,
you
guys.
He’s
just
really
generous.
But
if
you
did
see
him
hanging
out
at
a
porn
shop
in
the
90s,
he
was
probably
just
there
bringing
free
pizza
to
the
clerks.
It’s
what
Jesus
would
do!
Yes,
that
is
literally
what
North
Carolina’s
Lieutenant
Governor
and
current
Republican
candidate
for
governor
is
saying
in
a
$50
million
defamation
suit
against
CNN
and
Louis
Love
Money,
one
of
the
former
porn
shop
clerks,
who
wrote
a
song
about
seeing
him
there
all
the
time.
In
the
1990s,
Mark
Robinson
was
a
young
father,
struggling
to
provide
for
his
family.
During
this
period,
he
worked
at
Papa
John’s
pizza,
eventually
being
promoted
to
manager,
where
he
sometimes
managed
the
closing
shift.
Nearby
was
an
adult
video
store
where
Defendant
Money
worked.
Lt.
Gov.
Robinson,
who
has
always
been
a
gregarious,
outgoing
person,
made
friends
with
Defendant
Money,
who
also
worked
the
night
shift.
He
would
occasionally
bring
over
free
pizza
and
socialize.
More
often,
however,
Defendant
Money
would
come
over
to
the
Papa
John’s,
looking
for
free
or
discounted
pizza.
(Isn’t
this
exact
scene
in
basically
every
porno?)
On
September
19,
CNN’s
Andrew
Kaczynski
and
Em
Steck
published
an
article
entitled
“‘I’m
a
black
NAZI!’:
NC
GOP
nominee
for
governor
made
dozens
of
disturbing
comments
on
porn
forum,”
accusing
Robinson
of
posting
extremely
graphic
comments
on
a
website
called
NudeAfrica.com.
They
wrote
that
Robinson
used
the
handle
“minisoldr”
on
the
site,
as
well
as
on
platforms
like
Disqus
and
Black
Planet,
alongside
his
photo.
They
also
matched
Robinson’s
biographical
details
with
those
shared
by
“minisoldr,”
such
as
his
location
and
the
year
of
his
marriage.
The
article
may
have
been
inspired
by
an
interview
Money
did
two
weeks
earlier
with
The
Assembly,
a
North
Carolina
news
site
which
Robinson
describes
as
“a
major
online
publication
with
links
to
George
Soros.”
Because
if
you
absolutely,
positively did
not
say
all
those
horrible
antisemitic
things
those
liars
are
accusing
you
of,
ranting
about
an
octogenarian
Jewish
philanthropist
in
a
court
filing
is
the
way
to
go!
And
the
article
may
have
been
inspired
by
a
video
posted
in
August
by
Money’s
punk
band
The
Trailer
Park
Orchestra,
which
suggests
that
Robinson
failed
to
pay
the
clerk
for
a
bootleg
compilations
of
hardcore
porn
sourced
from
New
York
City,
where
obscenity
laws
were
less
stringent.
The
video
had
somewhere
south
of
10,000
views
before
Robinson
filed
this
dumb
turkey
of
a
“Streisand
Effect”
lawsuit.
“In
a
malicious
hit
job
so
well
timed
as
to
be
uncanny,
they
have
published
disgusting
lies
about
Lieutenant
Governor
Mark
Robinson
in
what
appears
to
be
a
coordinated
attack
aimed
at
derailing
his
campaign
for
governor,
and
has
already
inflicted
immeasurable
harm
to
his
family,
his
reputation,
and
his
good
name,”
Robinson
rails.
Robinson
is
going
with
the
Shaggy
Defense,
insisting
that
it
absolutely,
positively
wasn’t
him
saying
all
those
things
that
contradict
his
conservative,
Christian
public
persona:
[CNN]
chose
to
publish
despite
knowing
or
recklessly
disregarding
that
Lt.
Gov.
Robinson’s
data—including
his
name,
date
of
birth,
passwords,
and
the
address
supposedly
associated
with
the
NudeAfrica
account—were
previously
compromised
by
multiple
data
breaches.
Any
person
could
have
purchased
and/or
used
Lt.
Gov.
Robinson’s
data
to
create
accounts
all
over
the
internet.
As
CNN
is
aware,
people
who
create
accounts
on
websites
like
NudeAfrica,
and
AdultFriendFinder
prefer
not
to
use
their
own
names
and
identities
for
obvious
reasons.
Robinson
alleges
defamation
and
defamation
per
se
against
Money
and
CNN,
and
claims
he’s
entitled
to
punitive
damages
because
“Defendant
CNN
acted
with
actual
malice
and
reckless
disregard
for
the
truth,
as
demonstrated
by
Defendant’s
antipathy,
ill-will,
and
desire
to
inflict
harm
on
Lt.
Gov.
Robinson,
CNN’s
actual
knowledge
of
the
dubious
nature
and
timing
of
the
allegations,
its
use
of
unverifiable
data
to
corroborate
its
reporting,
its
reckless
failure
to
investigate,
and
its
knowledge
of
exculpatory
information
and
alternative
explanations
that
it
deliberately
omitted
from
the
CNN
Article.”
Actual
malice
cannot
be
established
by
demonstrating
the
defendant’s
“antipathy,
ill-will,
and
desire
to
inflict
harm”
as
a
matter
of
North
Carolina
law.
And
North
Carolina
has
a
pretty
strong
reporter’s
shield
statute
as
well.
But
that
didn’t
bother
Robinson
or
his
lawyer,
Jesse
Binnall,
who
gave
a
press
conference
yesterday
to
announce
their
suit.
No
time
(or
stomach)
for
the
video?
Let
me
save
you
some
time:
They
definitely
called
the
articles
a
“high
tech
lynching”
designed
to
interfere
with
the
election.
And
they
promised
that,
even
though
they
don’t
have
proof
of
recklessness
by
CNN
today,
they’re
totally
gonna
kick
some
loose
in
discovery.
Whatever
you
say,
minisoldr.
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
produces
the
Law
and
Chaos substack and podcast.