Robinson rebuts CNN’s arguments for dismissing defamation lawsuit

Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson accuses CNN of attributing “vile and bizarre comments” to him “for sensationalist and spiteful purposes” and to ruin his reputation during his recent campaign for governor. Robinson offered those comments in a federal court filing Thursday in his defamation case against the television network.

Robinson filed a response to CNN’s motion to dismiss the case, which stems from an article CNN published in September about Robinson’s use of adult websites more than a decade ago. The lieutenant governor also seeks to have the case returned to state court. US District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan has set a Jan. 17 deadline for CNN to respond to Robinson’s motion.

The lawsuit targets both CNN and former porn store clerk Louis Money, who released a music video criticizing Robinson.

“CNN rushed to attribute vile and bizarre comments to Lt. Gov. Robinson in its article, despite his denial and multiple indicators of unreliability in the data upon which it relied,” Robinson’s lawyers wrote in the latest court filing. “It did so for sensationalist and spiteful purposes, to ruin Lt. Gov. Robinson’s reputation with the gubernatorial election mere weeks away.”

Robinson lost the Nov. 5 election to Democrat Josh Stein, North Carolina’s attorney general.

“Lt. Gov. Robinson has alleged multiple facts and circumstances that would support a finding of CNN’s reckless disregard for truth, even under the clear and convincing evidence standard. At this stage, on a motion to dismiss, this is more than sufficient to allow this case to proceed to discovery, where Lt. Gov. Robinson will have the chance to further develop the record and restore his good name,” the court filing continued.

CNN moved the case from state to federal court in November. The cable network followed up with a motion asking Flanagan to dismiss the case. Money also has filed a motion to dismiss Robinson’s complaint.

“Defendant CNN’s notice of removal fails for both procedural and substantive reasons,” Robinson’s lawyers wrote in a court filing supporting his motion to return the case to state court. “Procedurally, CNN failed to comply with the strict requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1446 and well-settled Fourth Circuit case law by not representing unambiguous consent from Defendant Money for removal.”

“Substantively, in its attempt to claim that Lt. Gov. Robinson has no possible state law claim against Defendant Money, CNN ignores the applicable standard of review and takes the untenable position that a deliberate fabrication by Money is not enough to show actual malice,” the court filing continued. “While it is common for a news organization like CNN to avoid liability for the false statements of its sources under the actual malice standard, the source himself who fabricates something within his knowledge can seek no such refuge.”

“Defendant Money did not repeat something he heard. He made it up himself,” Robinson’s lawyers wrote.

CNN has argued that Robinson should not have linked the network and Money in the same legal action. The network claimed “fraudulent joinder,” meaning that Robinson tied the two defendants together to keep the case out of federal court.

Robinson’s lawyers rebutted that charge. “Put simply, there is no fraudulent joinder, there is no complete diversity, and this Court must remand the case back to state court.”

Lawyers for Robinson and Money traded accusations in court filings on Dec. 5.

Robinson originally sought $50 million in damages against CNN and Money. He later amended his suit to comply with North Carolina court rules that limit references to damage claims.

“Defendant Money moved to dismiss … because Mr. Robinson’s complaint contained a specific monetary remedy,” Robinson’s lawyers wrote. “Within days of Money raising the objection, Mr. Robinson filed an amended complaint removing the request for specific monetary damages. Mr. Money also complains that Mr. Robinson has made his defamation lawsuit — concerning national news headlines and Money’s defamatory viral video in the heat of a gubernatorial election in a contentious swing state regarding racially and sexually charged accusations —a ‘media spectacle.’”

“This case is about three viral hit pieces against Mr. Robinson,” the court filing continued. “On August 11, 2024, Defendant Money released a music video titled ‘The Lt. Governor Owes Me Money’ (the ‘Music Video’). The Music Video depicts a man in a suit with a rubber mask of a black man, intended to depict Mr. Robinson, entering a pornography store to buy pornographic videos.”

“Defendant Money addresses the song to ‘Mark’ and ‘Mr. Robinson’ throughout the Music Video, identifying the man in the suit as the ‘first black man’ to hold the title of lieutenant governor. The Music Video falsely accuses Mr. Robinson of owing money for a ‘bootleg’ porn video that Defendant Money supposedly produced for him,” Robinson’s lawyers wrote.

“Defendant Money went on an interview with The Assembly, an online publication, and doubled down on his claims in the Music Video. The Assembly published the interview (the ‘Assembly Article’) where Defendant Money claims Mr. Robinson frequented the pornography store he worked at and would spend thousands of dollars on illegal pornographic bootlegs,” the court filing continued. “Defendant Money’s interview and the subsequent publication of the Assembly Article caused the Music Video to go viral.”

“A few weeks later, CNN published an article titled ‘I’m a black NAZI!: NC GOP nominee for governor made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum’ (the ‘CNN Article’). CNN falsely attributed statements made on a pornographic website under the username ‘minisoldr’ to Mr. Robinson. These falsely attributed statements include several lewd, sex-obsessed, racist, and outrageous statements, including the comment from the article headline, ‘I’m a black NAZI!’” Robinson’s lawyers wrote.

“Between the Music Video, Assembly Article, and CNN Article, thousands if not millions of people have been exposed to the Defendants false claims against Mr. Robinson. The Defendants meant to make their stories about Mr. Robinson as famous and popular as they could to harm his election prospects,” the court filing argued.

“It is no shock why the media would be interested in Mr. Robinson’s lawsuit,” the lieutenant governor’s lawyers wrote. “Mr. Robinson was the Republican nominee in the swing-state of North Carolina; and CNN, one of the most well-known media outlets, had accused him in a national news article of calling himself a ‘black Nazi’ on a pornographic website. Also, Defendant Money had gone on The Assembly for an interview to boost viewership of his video accusing Mr. Robinson of spending hours at his pornography store and buying bootleg copies of grotesque pornographic videos. Defendants intentionally put these issues in the public eye well before this case even began.”

Robinson argues that the initial complaint seeking $50 million does not warrant Money’s request to have the case thrown out.

“Defendant Money has not been injured or prejudiced in any meaningful way from Mr. Robinson’s Rule 8(a)(2) violation,” Robinson’s lawyers wrote. “Here, publicity existed before the filings — even before the issue of $50,000,000. Defendant’s own publicization has guaranteed this case’s inevitable public audience.”

“Indeed, Defendant CNN is the news, and Defendant Money made a viral video. This case is not legal malpractice; it is defamation concerning statements made by and through outlets designed to garner as much public attention as possible,” the court filing continued.

Money’s lawyers filed a reply brief on the same day. “The opposition to Mr. Money’s motion is far more telling by seeing what it lacks as opposed to what it includes. The brief lacks: (1) An apology to the Court and the defendants for violating Rule 8. (2) An explanation for why the Rule was broken by a man who was purporting to be qualified to be the top governmental official in our state, and is currently the Lieutenant Governor.”

“The question of whether the violation was intentional is answered by the lack of explanation – it was Robinson’s plan all along to violate a well-known and well-established pleading rule through his very experienced attorneys,” Money’s lawyers wrote.

“Something has to be done. Mr. Robinson’s behavior is not appropriate. He violated a rule, made a spectacle of it, only fixed it when called out, then announced the fix was not sincere through his campaign. He has offered no other solution,” Money’s lawyer wrote.

Money wants the case dismissed or to get “a mere 1% of what Robinson says his case is worth – $500,000, less than the prejudgment interest would be on a $50,000,000 award,” his lawyers wrote.

CNN filed a motion on Nov. 21 to dismiss Robinson’s suit.

“Defamation lawsuits are not intended to be political theatre,” CNN’s lawyers wrote in a court filing. “Yet it appears this is precisely why Plaintiff Mark Robinson (‘Robinson’) brings this suit against Cable News Network (‘CNN’) — a lawsuit he announced at a press conference in the final days of his campaign for Governor of North Carolina.”

“In the midst of that campaign, after conducting a thorough investigation, CNN published an article, ‘I’m a black NAZI!’: NC GOP nominee for governor made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum’ (the ‘Article’), reporting that Robinson made lewd and racist posts under the username ‘minisoldr’ on the pornography website Nude Africa,” the court filing continued.

“CNN’s Article reports that these posts show that Robinson, at least at some point, privately held views that starkly contrast with those he publicly proclaims. The Article also includes a section in which the CNN journalists who wrote the Article ‘show their work’ as to how they made the connection between Robinson and minisoldr,” CNN’s lawyers wrote.

“Robinson alleges that the Article is false and defamatory and during his press conference announced ‘[the Article] is a journalistic hit job in order to interfere with an election.’ While this may make for campaign drama, it does not make for a good defamation claim,” according to the court filing.

“This Court should dismiss Robinson’s Amended Complaint against CNN because he has failed to plausibly allege a claim for defamation,” the network’s lawyers wrote. “In particular, Robinson did not and cannot plausibly allege facts that show that CNN published the Article with actual malice, i.e., with the subjective awareness of probable falsity.”

Robinson announced his suit against CNN and Money on Oct. 15, during the closing weeks of the election campaign.

“Today, we are taking the first step to do exactly what I said I was going to do after these scurrilous attacks were launched against myself and my family. We are holding CNN accountable,” said Robinson. “What this amounts to is, to quote Clarence Thomas: ‘This is a high-tech lynching’ on a candidate who has been targeted from day one by folks who disagree with me politically and want to see me destroyed.”