Mary Kate Cornett, a student at the University of Mississippi who is 18 years old, is suing ESPN and talk show host Pat McAfee for spreading a false and damaging story about her personal life. The fake accusation, which came out in February, said that Mary Kate Cornett was having an unsuitable relationship with her boyfriend’s father. This false information spread quickly on social media sites, making Cornett and her family go through a lot of emotional and mental pain. Cornett said in an interview with The Athletic that she wanted to be held responsible:
“I would like people to be held accountable for what they’ve done. 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.”
The story started on YikYak, a private social networking site, and spread very quickly. On the February 26 show of The Pat McAfee Show, Pat McAfee talked about the untrue claim without calling Mary Kate Cornett by name. His talk about the story, on the other hand, helped it spread to many people.
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There have been huge effects from the story. Mary Kate Cornett has been harassed nonstop, with rude comments and photos taken without her permission on campus. As things got worse, she took down her name from her dorm door, moved to emergency housing, and started taking classes online to get away from the toxic atmosphere. Her personal contact details were also posted online without her consent, which resulted in a rush of nasty and sexist comments.
That affected Cornett’s family as well. Houston police reported “swatting” at her mother’s residence, where threats were directed on other family members including her boyfriend and grandpa.
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Because of these events, Mary Kate Cornett’s dad, Justin Cornett, started a GoFundMe page called “Stand with Mary Kate Against Defamatory Cyberattacks.” The fundraiser aims to create an organization that helps people who have been hurt by similar hacks that spread false information. The effort has gotten a lot of support and has raised more than $30,000 so far.
Justin Cornett articulated the family’s anguish:
“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. 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.”
At this point, ESPN has refused to say anything about the situation, and Pat McAfee has not answered any questions about the possible lawsuit. The Cornett family’s bold stance shows how important responsibility is in the digital age, where false information can spread quickly and hurt people and their families for a long time.