Barstool Sports personalities have spent the last 24 hours apologizing for amplifying false, salacious rumors about Ole Miss student Mary Kate Cornett. While Dave Portnoy and his people have clearly felt the need to be direct and thorough in their public apologies, ESPN and Pat McAfee have failed to address the issue in the same manner.
In doing so, Barstool Sports has proven to be the adults in the room. ESPN and McAfee, by their silence, appear to be lagging behind in doing the right thing.
How We Got Here
Barstool Sports personalities and Pat McAfee (on his nationally televised ESPN show) mentioned the false rumors about Cornett. Cornett’s father and attorneys immediately called both entities out for spreading potentially damaging and defamatory information, and lawsuits were threatened.
The story intensified last week when Cornett herself took her story to NBC News and took further aim at these prominent sports personalities with enormous audiences for their roles in giving the story legitimacy, as she detailed the harm and trauma that she experienced.
Given Barstool Sports’ history and ESPN’s stature, the fact that Barstool would be the ones to do the right thing first is a stunning reversal from the days when ESPN ditched Barstool Van Talk after one episode because they thought the brand was too toxic. At the time, it was Portnoy’s comments about Sam Ponder and the issues of the broader Barstool ecosystem that then-president John Skipper found too hot to handle.
Fast-forward to 2025, and ESPN has its own firebrand in McAfee, who has been embroiled in one controversy after another, whether it’s accusing ESPN’s own executives of being rats, having to issue apologies about things said regarding Caitlin Clark, or the many conspiracy-filled episodes with Aaron Rodgers.
The Silence Has Been Deafening
Since the episode with Cornett happened, McAfee has not addressed the incident or his role in amplifying the false rumors on his show. ESPN has denied comment throughout the saga. The only time that McAfee did speak about it was at his Big Night Aht in Pittsburgh, where he said he would “figure that out.”
And for that whole thing that’s happening, I didn’t want to add any negativity as it was taking place like I did. We will try to figure that out and make some sort of silver lining in a very terrible situation. You can have that promise from me. It won’t be as impossible to be a fan of mine going forward.
What it hasn’t meant yet, though, is a direct apology from McAfee to Cornett. That is precisely what we have seen from Dave Portnoy and other Barstool Sports personalities on Thursday and Friday.
Dave Portnoy: “I would apologize, I get why the family is pissed. I’m sad and I wish we didn’t play any part in it, and I’d apologize and say I wish we didn’t.”
Kevin Clancy: “I’m genuinely sorry to Mary Kate Cornett, her boyfriend, her father, her parents, friends, family, anyone who was negatively affected by just a bonehead decision I made to make a really lame and really bad piece of content regarding some rumors that were being spread about her.”
Jack McGuire: “In February, I made a few comments surrounding the horrible rumors about Mary Kate Cornett’s alleged affair,” he wrote. “I now understand those rumors are fake and the affair did not happen. I regret these comments and want to apologize to Mary Kate, her boyfriend, and both of their families. I will learn from this massive mistake.”
Charles Nicholas Longley: “I just wanted to come on here today and apologize for a post I made on this account back in February about Mary Kate Cornett… I truly regret making that post and I really do apologize…”
Portnoy also added that while Barstool could potentially survive any future lawsuit, what happened with Cornett was “morally wrong.”
What has gone unseen is the many conversations that have likely occurred between the lawyers of ESPN, McAfee, Barstool, and Cornett. The organized stream of Barstool apologies could theoretically be part of avoiding or limiting legal damages. Perhaps those same issues are still being worked out with ESPN and Pat McAfee, and once an agreement is reached, we will see something more direct from him on his nationally licensed show.
But for now, it’s about the optics and seeing which company has been willing to take its wrongdoing on the chin, own it, and move on with a pledge to improve.
While Dave Portnoy went on a network news program to offer a front-facing apology, McAfee included his comments at a live arena show amongst a monologue about how many times he has been ‘canceled’ and framing the entire saga around a previous defamation lawsuit from Brett Favre.
What Happens Next
We’re now a month and a half from when the sports world made jokes about Mary Kate Cornett’s situation on February 26. The next day, on February 27, she and her father took to social media to mention potential legal action against McAfee and Barstool. It’s almost unfathomable to think that the Worldwide Leader fell behind Barstool Sports in coordinating any public relations strategy to deal with the fallout, but that’s exactly what has happened.
McAfee and ESPN may have very valid reasons for slowing down this while the legal minds on both sides do their thing. Eventually, he could make a charitable donation in Cornett’s honor, and maybe some good could come out of a terrible situation. But what fans and followers see in their relative silence is Barstool Sports being willing to own its mistakes and pledge to do better, while ESPN and one of its top personalities have not yet done so.
Does that say more about a more mature Portnoy and Barstool Sports, who are increasingly becoming part of mainstream sports culture? Or does it speak more to McAfee and ESPN’s inability to handle the situation? McAfee has apologized to people like Caitlin Clark, Jimmy Kimmel, and Raiders owner Mark Davis for comments on his program, so why not Mary Kate Cornett?
Barstool Sports has done the right thing publicly and offered contrition. They got ahead of ESPN in doing it. And that is a remarkable statement for the sports media world in 2025.