CNN wants to move its North Carolina defamation case to federal court, saying the lawsuit brought against the network by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson was improperly filed in state court.

The network on Thursday filed a notice of removal in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, arguing that the lawsuit belongs in federal court because CNN isn’t based in North Carolina and it alleges that a separate North Carolina-based defendant was “fraudulently joined” in the suit.

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A lawyer for Robinson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday.

Robinson sued CNN for defamation after the network published an article alleging that Robinson, using an alias, referred to himself as a "Black Nazi," called for the reinstatement of slavery and described pornographic consumption habits in the comments section of a website called Nude Africa more than a decade ago, before he entered politics. Robinson has denied the allegations.

Robinson’s lawsuit also targeted Louis Love Money, a former Greensboro adult video store employee who was among half a dozen people who told news magazine The Assembly this year that, in the 1990s and early 2000s, Robinson frequently came into two Greensboro stores to watch and buy explicit videos. Money made similar allegations in a song by his band, the Trailer Park Orchestra, which alleged that Robinson owed him money for bootlegged pornographic videos.

Robinson sought to shoot down those claims in his lawsuit, adding that CNN’s reporting and Money’s allegations “[appeared] to be a coordinated attack aimed at derailing his campaign for governor.”

Robinson lost the Nov. 5 gubernatorial election to Democrat Josh Stein by 15 percentage points.

The Assembly wasn’t named as a defendant in Robinson’s lawsuit. The publication has said it stands by its reporting.

“Robinson’s claims against Money have nothing to do with Robinson’s claims against CNN,” the network said in its filing in federal court this week.

CNN noted that Robinson’s remarks about his lawsuit have primarily focused on CNN and it argued that the network’s article had nothing to do with Money’s statements. The network says the court should “consider only those defendants with a ‘real connection with the controversy.’”

“Asserting a near-frivolous claim against Money with zero connection to the CNN article that is the focus of Robinson’s ire was intended solely to keep this case in North Carolina state court and constitutes fraudulent joinder,” CNN said in its filing.

CNN said Robinson wouldn’t be able to prove Money acted with actual malice and that Robinson wouldn’t be able to establish that Money’s statements were defamatory in part because Money has recently said that he likes Robinson as a person and because the actions alleged by Money were lawful activities.

“It [isn’t] defamatory to say someone watches pornography, which is a lawful activity for adults,” CNN said in its filing. “While some may disagree about the propriety of such conduct, the simple fact is that statements that someone engaged in a lawful activity are not defamatory.”

“While perhaps Robinson would prefer to maintain a more wholesome image,” CNN added, “such a desire cannot form the basis of his defamation action.”

Money, who has asked the state court to dismiss the lawsuit, has sought to use the legal battle as an opportunity to market his band.

Reached for comment on Friday, he told WRAL in a text message: “If it goes to federal court, hopefully the Trailer Park Orchestra gets booked in whatever city that court is in. I want to arrive still-drunk.”

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina is in Raleigh.