Sports commentator Pat McAfee says he met with an Ole Miss student who was at the center of a false online rumor he discussed on his popular ESPN show and apologized to her for feeding into the viral attention the claims received.
“We weren’t clear at that point where the story originated from. It was all over the internet. Yet by the time we talked about it, the story was everywhere,” McAfee said on his show Wednesday. “I have since learned that the story was not true, and that my show played a role in the anguish caused to a great family and especially to a young woman, Mary Kate Cornett.”
McAfee said he “never wants to be a source of negativity or contribute to another human’s suffering,” and when he met with Cornett and her family he was able 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, or what had previously been reported by others, and that we had no personal knowledge about Mary Kate or her personal life.”
In February, Cornett was at the center of a viral rumor about her love life that started on Ole Miss message boards and went viral on social media. She at one point threatened to sue McAfee, ESPN and a number of other sports media personalities who used the viral story as fodder and content.
“As you might imagine, there was a lot going on behind the scenes since this all happened,” McAfee said on Wednesday. “The most important element on the timing is I, personally, it was a decision I made, wanted to talk to the family first before addressing it publicly. And I can now say that I had the opportunity to meet them, chat with them, and they’re wonderful people.”
