College student who became subject of viral rumor says incident has 'ruined' her life

Yahoo

03-04-2025

A University of Mississippi student who was the subject of an internet rumor is navigating the fallout after she says the lie, which was amplified by people including popular ESPN host and analyst Pat McAfee, 'ruined' her life. Mary Kate Cornett, 19, told NBC News on Wednesday that she and her family have faced a barrage of harassment and insults in the weeks since a false rumor about her and her boyfriend's father went viral online.
'Having your life ruined by people who have no idea who you are is the worst feeling in the world,' Cornett said, while tearing up. 'It makes you feel so alone. It's a horrible experience.'
The rumor involving Cornett, whose experience was detailed in a profile published by The Athletic earlier this week, was referenced on 'The Pat McAfee Show' by the host, a former NFL player, and his guests as they discussed an alleged 'ménage à trois' at Ole Miss. Cornett and her boyfriend were not mentioned by name in the ESPN show.
In the episode, which aired on Feb. 26, McAfee says an 'Ole Miss frat bro' allegedly 'had a K-D (Kappa Delta) girlfriend.'
'At this exact moment, this is what is being reported by … everybody on the internet: Dad had sex with son's girlfriend,' he says, later adding, 'And then it was made public … that's the absolute worst-case situation.'
The conversation steered back toward college football after almost two and a half minutes. McAfee shared a clip about the discussion online to his 3.2 million X followers. The post, which is captioned 'What's going on at Ole Miss' with two laughing crying face emojis, was still on the social media platform as of Wednesday and had been viewed 1.8 million times.
The circulation of the rumor was enough, Cornett said, to further derail her life.
ESPN and McAfee declined to comment.
While the internet has propelled unknown people into stardom overnight, Cornett's experience has underscored the more toxic nature of virality.
Cornett said her friends first told her about a rumor that was spreading on YikYak, an anonymous messaging-based app used by some college students, about a college student at her university and in her sorority who was sleeping with her boyfriend's father.
Within an hour and a half of the rumor spreading, Cornett said she already started noticing people staring at her on campus. Eventually, she saw that her name was a top trending topic on X, with 'hundreds and hundreds' of posts falsely identifying her as the person at the center of the rumor.
She said that she, her boyfriend and his father were shocked.
'It was so insane. It all happened so fast,' she said. 'I was just in shambles. I just felt so helpless and so alone because so many people were hating on me for something that I had no idea anything about.'
After McAfee's show, others, including two personalities affiliated with Barstool Sports, referenced the rumor online. KFC Barstool posted a video about the incident to his personal account that was later deleted, according to The Athletic. Jack Mac's post, which was still on X as of Wednesday, promotes a meme coin that contains Cornett's name.
A representative for Barstool Sports did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dave Portnoy, the owner of Barstool Sports, denied his website's involvement in spreading the rumor in a statement to other media outlets.
'Barstool Sports did not mention or spread this rumor on any of our Barstool owned channels,' he said in a statement to Rolling Stone. 'Our editors instinctively made the decision to avoid this story as it seemed there was a high likelihood it could have been fabricated.'
In his statement to the publication, he said he's aware that one of the company's 'employees posted something on their personal socials but we don't control those.'
Monica Uddin, Cornett's attorney, said she believes what happened to her client is cyberbullying and grounds for a defamation case.
'Defamation has existed for a long time. You can't lie about someone with impunity — and that's what has happened to Mary Kate,' she said. 'You can't lie for money.'
'Not using her name is not a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card, saying 'allegedly' is not a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card,' the attorney said. 'These people are responsible for what they have done to her.'
Cornett said she intends to take legal action against McAfee and ESPN, and potentially others who, she said, helped spread the rumor.
Uddin said Cornett is prepared to be deposed to prove her case.
Since the rumor began circulating, Cornett said nothing about her life has been the same.
'This has affected me in such an awful way and has practically ruined my life,' Cornett said, adding that McAfee 'never once reached out to ask me if this was true or for me to give any sort of statement to him.'
'I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that an ESPN sports broadcaster would be talking about a 19-year-old girl's 'sex scandal' that was completely false,' Cornett said.
Police showed up to Cornett's mother's home in Houston, she said, with guns drawn in what she described as an apparent 'swatting' incident, which is the act of making a false report of extreme violence in order to elicit an overwhelming law enforcement response to someone's home.
NBC News has reviewed screenshots of security camera footage of the incident, provided by Cornett's attorney, appearing to confirm the 'swatting' occurred.
NBC News has reached out to the Houston Police Department for comment.
Cornett said her number was shared online and that she was overwhelmed with 'thousands' of calls and texts, with some telling her she 'deserved to die.' She said she could barely leave her dorm room and had to switch to online classes.
Cornett denounced people who talked about her online, suggesting they did so for clout.
'I want these famous people to know that I was not famous before this,' she said. ' ... I am a normal 19-year-old college freshman. That's it. I was happy. I had a great friend group.'
'I'm not a public figure that you can go talk about on your show to get more views,' she added.
Justin Cornett, Cornett's dad, said that as a parent he was 'worried' that his daughter 'wouldn't recover.'
'You just want to protect them,' he said. 'She's a beautiful person. She has a tender heart and a kind soul.'
Now, he said he 'wants justice.'
'The people that did this to her and her boyfriend and his dad deserve what they have coming to them,' he said.
When asked what he would say to McAfee, Justin Cornett said, 'When you have a microphone and you have a platform, you have a responsibility to take on that role with the respect of the people you report on being paramount. If this were to happen to him, his daughter, his wife, someone he loves, he sure wouldn't like it. When you have a microphone, you have a responsibility and it needs to be taken seriously.'
For days after the rumor first flooded the internet, Cornett said she couldn't sleep and would throw up after experiencing anxiety. She defended herself online, sharing an Instagram post the day after McAfee's show aired.
'First of all, this rumor is 100% completely false and it is quite frankly, inexcusable that such disturbing accusations went viral,' she wrote at the time, adding that 'Cyber attacks based on nothing but lies and misinformation happen all too often.'
She issued a similar warning about the dangers of how false information can spread on social media during her interview with NBC News on Wednesday.
'If this happened to me, this could happen to anyone,' she said. 'And there's nothing I could have done to prevent what happened to me.'
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com