Mary Kate Cornett planning legal action against Pat McAfee, ESPN over viral scandal

The Ole Miss college freshman at the center of a vile internet rumor that gained traction in late February is looking to take legal action against ESPN and Pat McAfee, who touched upon the wild accusations made against the teen on his ESPN program, as the ensuing fallout of the gossip spread has been “ruining” her life.

Speaking about the nightmare that has unfolded over the last five weeks, 18-year-old Mary Kate Cornett told The Athletic she wants “people to be held accountable for what they’ve done” in giving life to an unfounded rumor that she slept with her boyfriend’s father.

“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,” said Cornett, who is plotting legal action against ESPN and others possibly for their roles in “spreading the rumor,” according to The Athletic.

McAfee — who did not respond to The Athletic’s messages for comment while an ESPN spokesperson declined comment — referenced the gossip on the Feb. 26 installment of “The Pat McAfee Show” without specific mention of Cornett.

Upon briefing guest Adam Schefter on the matter, the NFL insider responded, “So where is [Ole Miss quarterback] Jaxson Dart in all this?” as McAfee’s show was taped from the scouting combine in Indianapolis.

Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown and Barstool Sports personality KFC Barstool have also come under fire for public mentions of the story.

“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,” Cornett told The Athletic.

In late February, Cornett slammed McAfee and others in a statement shared on a GoFundMe page organized by her father, Justin, with all proceeds to be “used to provide seed capital establishing a foundation focused on helping innocent victims of similar defamatory cyber attacks.”

“I have been the victim of a deliberate and coordinated cyberattack spreading categorically false and defamatory information,” the statement read.

“… Irresponsible independent social media influencers with apparent ties to Barstool Sports and even major public figures like Antonio Brown and Pat McAfee who hosts ESPN’s College Game Day have shared these utter and complete lies with zero interest in the truth, but instead spreading outlandish conjecture. No one affiliated with these organizations ever reached out to us for comment. Most alarmingly, my personal contact information has been doxed illegally shared publicly, putting my personal safety at risk. Many notes sent suggest I even take my own life.”

Justin expanded on the helplessness he’s felt as a father throughout the distressing ordeal.

“The only way I could describe it is it’s like you’re walking with your daughter on the street, holding her hand, and a car mirror snags her shirt and starts dragging her down the road. And all you can do is watch,” he told The Athletic. “You can’t catch the car. You can’t stop it from happening. You just have to sit there and watch your kid be destroyed.”

Cornett, who has since pivoted to online learning at the university, fears she’ll have trouble in the job market over the matter, and has pondered what her future children might think.

“These folks … they can just say whatever they want and destroy a young girl’s life forever,” Justin said.

Cornett added, “They don’t think it matters, because they don’t know who I am and they think that I deserve it. But I don’t.”

The GoFundMe set up in Cornett’s name has since raised more than $26,000.