NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's Azalea Festival proclamation ignites social media firestorm

Most years, the official announcement proclaiming the start of the North Carolina Azalea Festival in Wilmington attracts some media coverage and little if any controversy.

The latter can't be said this year, however, with dozens of commentors lambasting the festival's social media accounts this week after N.C. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson read the official festival proclamation in Raleigh announcing the 77th annual Azalea Festival, which will be held April 3-7 in Wilmington.

Robinson is the Republican candidate for North Carolina governor in November's election, opposing Democratic N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein. Since being elected lieutenant governor in 2020, Robinson has drawn the ire of critics who have used such terms as homophobic, antisemitic and misogynistic to describe his comments and social media posts.

"Shame on you for giving this person a platform," one person commented on the Azalea Festival's Instagram post sharing the announcement, while another termed Robinson a "Hitler-quoting lunatic."

For decades now, it has been traditional for the sitting governor of North Carolina, or one of his representatives, to officially announce the start of the Azalea Festival in Raleigh. The announcement has been made by both Republican governors, like Pat McCrory in 2013, and Democratic governors, like N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper in 2017.

In 2018, when Cooper was unable to attend a press conference to make the announcement, First Lady Kristin Cooper presented the signed proclamation in Raleigh in the governor's place.

Sitting North Carolina governors and lieutenant governors have been part of the festival many times, like when Gov. Terry Sanford and Lt. Gov. Harvey Cloyd Philpott rode in the Azalea Festival parade together in 1961.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the sitting North Carolina lieutenant governor has ever made the festival announcement.

According to a member of Gov. Cooper's staff, the governor was simply unavailable at the time the announcement was made because President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris were in Raleigh for a campaign event and fundraiser.

"As in years past, the governor's office provided the annual proclamation for the Azalea Festival," Jordan Monaghan, deputy communications director for Gov. Cooper, wrote in an email. "The governor was unable to join the ceremony held at the General Assembly as he joined the president and vice-president during their visit to Raleigh on Tuesday afternoon."

In an email, Azalea Festival executive director Alison Baringer said that "we don’t have anything to add to the governor’s statement." Emails to members of Robinson's staff were not returned.

Robinson's comments and social media posts have generated headlines and controversy in the past.

In 2021, a video of Robinson surfaced of him using word like "filth" to refer to "transgenderism" and "homosexuality."

"There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth," Robinson said. "And yes, I called it filth."

After the Raleigh News & Observer did a story about the video, Robinson told the paper that "this narrative that’s being driven, that I have something against the LGBTQ+ community is absolutely false" and said he was referring not to people but to material available to school-age students.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: NC Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's Azalea Fest proclamation draws criticism