Earlier this year, a young student’s life was completely upended. Mary Kate Cornett, a young student at Ole Miss, fell victim to baseless rumors about her relationship with her boyfriend that caught fire on social media and completely disrupted her time in school.
The rumors made it all the way to The Pat McAfee Show, where McAfee mentioned the story in a conversation with ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter while Schefter was discussing former Ole Miss quarterback and current NFL draft prospect Jaxson Dart.
On Tuesday, the Athletic released a feature piece from Katie Strong in which Cornett and her family provide horrific details of how the story affected them.
“As the rumor spread, Cornett removed her name from outside her dorm room, but she still had vile messages slipped under her door. Campus police told her she was a target, and she moved into emergency housing and switched to online courses.
Houston police showed up to her mother’s house, guns drawn, in the early hours of Feb. 27, in an apparent instance of “swatting” – when someone falsely reports a crime in hopes of dispatching emergency responders to a residence. According to security camera footage and a police report reviewed by The Athletic, the homicide division responded to the call.
After her phone number was posted online, Cornett’s voicemail was filled with degrading messages. In one, a man laughs as he says that she’s been a “naughty girl” and cheerfully asks her to give him a call. Another male caller says that he has a son, too, in case she’s interested. Several people texted her obscene messages, calling her a “whore” and a “slut” and advised her to kill herself.”
People reacted to the brutal account of things from the Cornett family on social media.
“I hope the guy is no longer able to get on public airwaves. Disgraceful,” one person wrote of McAfee on Twitter.
“McAfee’s & Portnoy’s ‘Brah Sports’ is becoming a cesspool of vile rumors and innuendo. With all them just saying, ‘My bad, ‘” one person added.
“Everyone who reported on this or shared this is an embarrassment. Pathetic,” someone else wrote.
It’ll be interesting to see if McAfee faces any litigation as a result of this.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.