"I didn't know that porn sites had comments": Cooper weighs in on Robinson scandal

Cooper noted he was "fascinated" by Robinson's taste, which included trans content despite his anti-trans rhetoric

By Griffin Eckstein

News Fellow

Published September 20, 2024 4:45PM (EDT)

Anderson Cooper speaks onstage during the 17th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at The American Museum of Natural History on December 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for CNN)
Anderson Cooper speaks onstage during the 17th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at The American Museum of Natural History on December 10, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for CNN)

Anderson Cooper poked fun at North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson's recently unearthed porn forum comments during a recent visit to "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

Those more-than-a-decade old comments on the Nude Africa message board were uncovered by CNN earlier this week and included the N.C. Republican gubernatorial candidate calling himself a “black Nazi” and praising slavery. 

“I didn't know that porn sites had comments sections,” Cooper joked about the story his network broke. “Is this a common thing?”

Cooper also noted that he was “fascinated"  by the lt. governor's porn preferences. Robinson, who has pushed anti-trans rhetoric throughout his political rise, shared that he enjoyed watching porn with trans actors from the gallery of Nude Africa. 

Cooper was particularly drawn in by one comment Robinson left, saying that the porn “takes the man out while leaving the man in.”

CNN cross-referenced the details of the Nude Africa account with many accounts that Robinson has used across the internet. In addition to sharing a username with many Robinson accounts, the porn site account was linked to an email known to belong to Robinson. The candidate has denied all allegations against him and called the report from CNN "salacious tabloid lies." 

“This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me,” Robinson told the network. “I’m not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies.”

Watch the full clip here:


MORE FROM Griffin Eckstein