If you know Mark Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, it is probably because of his hardline stance on abortion and his absurd claims on all sorts of topics, from Black Panther (from “made by an agnostic Jew and filmed by satanic Marxists”) to the Holocaust (“nonsense”). But get ready for a new and slightly funnier reason: In the 1990s and early 2000s, evangelical Christians went to porn shops a lot. Like, a lot.
That’s according to a former employee of a 24-hour porn video store in Greensboro who spoke to investigative website The North Carolina. gathering. He says Robinson came up to five nights a week to watch videos in a private booth. The man, Louis Money, said that at one of the stores where he worked, Gents, customers could buy videos for $50 apiece or “preview” them in private booths for $8. “Every night I worked, so five nights a week, I saw Mark,” Money said. “He spent a lot of money.” According to Money, Robinson watched at least two tapes a night. Five other customers and co-workers confirmed Robinson’s frequent attendance; one said Robinson would even bring the boys pizza.
A campaign spokesman called the assembly’s report “bullshit.”
In his memoirs, Robinson wrote that he was “guilty of poor money management” and that “when I had money and should have put it in the bank or spent it on necessities, I just threw it out the window.” Between 1998 and 2003, Robinson’s family filed for bankruptcy three times.
While all those interviewed by the assembly said they liked Robinson, his porn era was brought back to the surface after Money made a rap-rock music video called “The Lt. Governor Owes Me Money” in August. According to Money, Robinson bought “hundreds” of pirated porn compilations that Money made – though he forgot to pay him the $25 for the last one.
Republicans have long had an obsession with pornography, part of their moral crusade in America. Robinson, at least, his former friend said, has put his words into action. This decade, that revelation is more likely to help the candidate win the Barstool brothers’ vote.
