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The scandal that rocked the internet earlier this year was when Mary Kate Cornett was accused of sleeping with her boyfriend's father. The rumor began on YikYak — a social media platform popular among college students where users can send anonymous messages. While the rumor ran rampant on social media, Pat McAfee addressed the scandal on his eponymous ESPN show in February adding to the already viral allegation against Cornett. This is the first time that McAfee is addressing his part in spreading the rumor.
On Wednesday (July 23), McAfee apologized to Cornett and her family during his show. “I can now happily share with you that I recently got to meet Mary Kate and her family,” McAfee said. “And I got a chance to sincerely apologize to them and acknowledge that what I said about Mary Kate was based solely on what others were saying on the internet.”
The ESPN host continued, “I think you all know from this show that I never want to be a source of negativity or contribute to another humans suffering.”
He shared that when speaking to the Cornett family are “wonderful” people.
“And I'm very thankful that they gave me the opportunity to tell them how sorry I was that this all happened and that our show was a part of this,” McAfee said. “I deeply regret the pain that was caused.”
Mary Kate Cornett Sets Record Straight On Rumor
Cornett spoke to NBC News back in April when she addressed the allegation as a mere “internet rumor that has zero truth to it.”
The Ole Miss student didn't appreciate the rumor being discussed on McAfee's show.
“I’m not a public figure that you can go talk about on your show to get more views,” she says.
It bothered her that McAfee decided to use this moment to add to the turmoil that she was facing everyday.
“I used to look up these people and now these same people are making me feel worthless,” she said.
Cornett shared that she was facing threats from people on social media and that she had a hard time taking all of the harsh comments.
“Having the entire internet, half of the country, hating you and calling you disgusting things, telling you to kill yourself, telling you that you’re a horrible person, that you deserve to die, that’s a really hard thing for a girl to go through,” Cornett said.
“I (can’t) even walk on campus without people taking pictures of me or screaming my name or saying super vulgar, disgusting things to me,” she said after revealing that she has spent a lot of time in her room instead of leaving the house.
At the time she said she was thinking of taking legal action against McAfee but nothing has come to fruition at this time following the apology.
“I would like people to be held accountable for what they’ve done,” she said. “You’re ruining my life by talking about it on your show for nothing but attention, but here I am staying up until 5 in the morning, every night, throwing up, not eating because I’m so anxious about what’s going to happen for the rest of my life.”
