The disclaimer at the beginning of each episode of The Pat McAfee Show asking not to be sued may be put to the test. An 18-year-old freshman at Ole Miss says the ESPN personality and others destroyed her life when they spread a salacious rumor on TV and social media. Mary Kate Cornett tells the Athletic that she was at the center of a spurious rumor that she had slept with her boyfriend's father, and that she was blindsided when major sports media figures like McAfee amplified it on their platforms. "Having your life ruined by people who have no idea who you are is the worst feeling in the world," Cornett tells NBC News. "It makes you feel so alone. It's a horrible experience."
It all began on Feb. 25 when the rumor spread on YikYak, an anonymous hyperlocal messaging app that's popular at colleges. By the next day, the rumor had spread to X and become a trending topic that gained attention in sports media. That's when McAfee brought it up on the air, albeit without naming names: "At this moment, this is what is being reported by…everybody on the internet: Dad had sex with son's girlfriend." And McAfee wasn't the only sports figure to give traction to the rumor. KFC Barstool and Jack Mac from Barstool Sports referenced it on their social media accounts while former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown posted a meme about Cornett on X. "When the more popular people started posting, that's when it really, really changed," she said.
Things only got worse in the following days. Ole Miss police told Cornett she was a target, so she moved into emergency housing and switched to online courses. And in the early morning of Feb. 27, someone falsely reported a crime at the house of Cornett's mother, which led to a police response with guns drawn. And because Cornett's phone number was posted online, her voicemail was filled with degrading messages. She eventually released a statement on Instagram that deemed the accusations to be "false," "inexcusable" and "disturbing," and her boyfriend also posted that the rumor was "unequivocally false." But she said she plans to take legal action against McAfee, ESPN, and others who helped spread the rumor. "I would like people to be held accountable for what they've done."
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