UPDATE—July 24, 2025:
ESPN host Pat McAfee has apologized for repeating a sexually explicit rumor about an 18-year-old college student on his daily talk show, saying as a self-proclaimed “girl dad” he regrets his actions.
On the July 23 episode of The Pat McAfee Show, the 38-year-old father of a toddler daughter finally addressed the controversy, saying he had not done so earlier because he had wanted to speak with Mary Kate Cornett and her family personally before addressing it on his show.
Recently, he said, he was able to do so and thus felt ready to speak out. Specifically, he said, he was able to tell the teenager’s father that he was “wildly regretful for the part that our show played in his daughter Mary Kate’s pain.”
“They’re wonderful people, and I’m very thankful they gave me the opportunity to tell them how sorry I was,” he said of the family.
“I deeply regret the pain that was caused. I hated watching what our show was a part of,” McAfee continued, according to Today. “And my hope is that this can be something we all learn from going forward. I know we certainly have.”
Glamour first reported on the controversy in April, and that story is below.
ORIGINAL STORY: There isn’t a clear reason for why Mary Kate Cornett, a normal Ole Miss student previously without any kind of public profile, became an internet punching bag seemingly overnight. But any explanations we do have are all extremely depressing. In 2014, #Gamergate exposed the worst kind of harassment and misogyny that women are attacked with online. But Cornett’s story proves that a woman doesn’t even have to be on the internet to become its target.
The ordeal began with a random rumor posted on the internet about a young woman having an affair with her boyfriend’s dad. The post went viral on X, which attracted the attention of certain high-profile sports commentators, who then amplified the story to their massive audiences. Cornett, who was named in the original rumor, has denied that there is any truth to the story, and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that there is—but that hasn’t stopped the harassment.
So, what happened?
What was the rumor and how did it start?
On February 25, 2025, X user @MAGAgeddon posted an image of an alleged Snapchat conversation, which claimed that Cornett had met up with her boyfriend’s dad while on a break from college, and the two had had sex. The unverified post also claimed that Cornett’s boyfriend and his mother found out about the so-called affair. The X post also included photos of Cornett, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s father’s LinkedIn profile.
The post took off, and currently has 1.5 million views on X. The virality of the rumor even inspired some internet users to create a meme coin called the MKC token, using Cornett’s initials.
ESPN commentator Pat McAfee, as well as Barstool Sports employees, then amplified the rumor.
February 26, ESPN commentator Pat McAfee, who has a history of making sexist comments, discussed the rumor at length on his podcast. “Some Ole Miss frat bro, k? Had a K-D (Kappa Delta) girlfriend,” he said, per The Athletic. ”At this exact moment, this is what is being reported by … everybody on the internet: Dad had sex with son’s girlfriend.”
