Republicans are distancing themselves from their toxic nominee for governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson, following a report from CNN that allegedly discloses a number of profane, antisemitic, racist comments he made on a pornography message board more than a decade ago. They say that if the messages are fake and CNN maliciously reported falsehoods — as Mr. Robinson has claimed — then he needs to file a defamation lawsuit to prove his innocence. 

On Thursday, CNN’s KFILE dropped a damning report on the pornography site messages Mr. Robinson allegedly posted between 2008 and 2012. On the website Nude Africa, Mr. Robinson reportedly said he wished to reestablish slavery, referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” and claimed to have watched women shower at a public gym when he was a teenager. 

Before the story even aired, he said in a video posted on X that the messages were not his, and that they could have been fabricated using artificial intelligence. 

His fellow Republicans say that if that is the case, he needs to file a lawsuit against CNN. 

“If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total media fabrication, he needs to take immediate legal action,” North Carolina’s senior senator, Senator Tillis, said on X. “If the reporting is true, he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take accountability for his actions and put the future of NC & our party before himself.”

The state’s other senator, Ted Budd, told reporters at the Capitol on Thursday that the “allegations are concerning,” but that he did not have all the “facts” to make a decision about Mr. Robinson’s future. 

Senator Graham, appearing on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, said that Mr. Robinson needs to hire a legal team immediately if he wants to clear his name. 

“He deserves a chance to defend himself,” Mr. Graham said. “The charges are beyond unnerving. If they’re true, he’s unfit to serve for office. If they’re not true, he has the best lawsuit in the history of the country for libel.”

Senator Cotton said something similar, claiming that Mr. Robinson owed it to the people of North Carolina to explain exactly what is going on. “I’ve seen these allegations … and they’re concerning allegations,” Mr. Cotton said on CNN. “He owes the people of North Carolina more answers about it,”

Mr. Robinson has claimed that the “tabloid trash” being published about him are falsehoods generated by artificial intelligence. “I’m not gonna get into the minutiae of how somebody manufactured these salacious tabloid lies, but I can tell you this: There’s been $1 million spent on me through AI,” Mr. Robinson said, without offering any examples or proof of such ads. “The things that people can do with the internet now, it’s incredible.”

A spokesman for Mr. Robinson did not immediately respond to a request seeking specific examples of such uses of AI in the race for North Carolina governor. 

Senator Vance did not call on Mr. Robinson to initiate a lawsuit against CNN, saying instead that it will be up to the public to decide whether or not he is trustworthy. 

“The allegations are pretty far out there … but I know that allegations aren’t necessarily reality,” Mr. Vance said. “It’s ultimately up to Mark Robinson and North Carolina whether he’s gonna be their governor and whether he wants to stay in the race.”

When he was asked if he believed Mr. Robinson was the person who posted those messages, Mr. Vance said he was not sure. “I don’t not believe him, I don’t believe him. I just think you have to let these things sometimes play out in the court of public opinion,” Mr. Vance told NBC News. 

Mr. Robinson, who frequently appeared alongside President Trump at rallies for the better part of the last year, has not been seen with the former president on the campaign trail, and has not received any shoutouts from Trump during his own rallies in the state.

The Carolina Journal, a publication in the state, reported that Trump’s campaign team has barred Mr. Robinson from appearing alongside Trump and Mr. Vance.