Pat McAfee Breaks Silence and Apologizes for Spreading False ‘Sex Scandal’ Rumor About Ole Miss Student

Pat McAfee has broken his silence on the false “sex scandal” rumor that a young woman said “practically ruined” her life after the ESPN host talked about it on his show. 

In February, McAfee brought up a viral rumor on his show, which accused Ole Miss student Mary Kate Cornett of engaging in inappropriate behavior. Cornett, 19, then called McAfee out for continuing to spread the rumor during an April interview with NBC Nightly News. 

“I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that an ESPN sports broadcaster would be talking about a 19-year-old girl’s ‘sex scandal’ that was completely false,” Cornett told NBC’s Tom Llamas on April 2.

Nearly four months later, McAfee, 38, addressed his role in perpetuating the false reporting on his show, and said he recently met with Cornett and her family to apologize.

McAfee said he has “since learned” that the rumors about Cornett were “not true” and that his show “played a role in the anguish cause to a great family and especially to a young woman.”

The ESPN host continued, “I think you all know from this show that I never want to be a source of negativity or contribute to another humans suffering.”

McAfee then said he has since gone to talk with Cornett and her family. “I can now happily share with you that I recently got to meet Mary Kate and her family and I got a chance to sincerely apologize to them.”

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He said it was an “honor” to meet the family and that he was also able to “acknowledge that what I said about Mary Kate was based solely on what others were saying on the internet or had been previously reported by others” rather than based on any reporting of his own. “We had no knowledge about Mary Kate or her personal life,” McAfee confirmed.

“As a girl dad, I also was very thankful for the opportunity to let Mr. Cornett know that I was wildly regretful for the part that our show, our program played in his daughter Mary Kate’s pain.”

McAfee then addressed why he waited months to talk about the incident, which he said is a “fair question” from viewers.

“As you might imagine, there was a lot going on behind the scenes since this all happened,” he said, explaining that the “most important element on the timing” was that he wanted to meet with Cornett and her parents before “addressing it publicly” on his show.

In a statement to PEOPLE, an attorney for the Cornett family, Monica Uddin, said “the matter has been resolved to each of our satisfaction.”

The rumor, which began in February, accused Cornett of inappropriate behavior with her boyfriend’s dad. In her original statement, which her dad Justin posted on his Facebook account, Cornett said she had been the “victim of a deliberate and coordinated cyberattack,” which included, “partially and wholly edited screenshots, fake AI generated videos and manipulated photographs” that “have been promoted by irresponsible social media participants and amplified by thousands of fake accounts.”

The Kappa Delta sorority student told Llamas in April that the rumor, “has affected me in such an awful way and has practically ruined my life.” 

McAfee said he “deeply regrets the pain that was caused” and he “hated” seeing how his show negatively impacted the young woman. “My hope is that this can be something we can all learn from going forward. I know we certainly have,” he concluded.

In a statement to PEOPLE, ESPN said, “The matter has been resolved to each party’s satisfaction, and ESPN has no further comment beyond Pat McAfee’s statement on his July 23, 2025 show.”