Despite the story receiving national attention, Pat McAfee has largely avoided publicly addressing the situation surrounding 19-year-old Ole Miss freshman Mary Kate Cornett, who has threatened to sue the former All-Pro punter for amplifying a baseless rumor about her personal life.
That, however, changed on Wednesday, as McAfee broke his silence on the matter during his Big Night AHT live show in Pittsburgh.
While the 37-year-old ESPN star didn’t mention Cornett by name, it was fairly easy to read between the lines. After referencing Brett Favre’s since-dropped defamation lawsuit against him, McAfee appeared to allude to the Cornett controversy, vowing to make things right.
“I’m cool with Brett. Just like the current situation that is happening, where I have a lot of people saying that I should be sued,” McAfee said in apparent reference to Cornett. “I want to say this: I never, ever want to be a part of anything negative in anybody’s life, ever. That is not what I want to do… my lawyers are Pittsburgh lawyers and they’re in here tonight… they have the same mindset as me: empathy but understanding reality.
“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.”
For the uninitiated, the situation dates back to February, as the baseless rumor that Cornett had been sleeping with her boyfriend’s father went viral. While McAfee didn’t mention Cornett by name, he did allude to the rumor on his eponymous show during a segment with ESPN’s Adam Schefter at the NFL Draft Scouting Combine.
What’s going on at Ole Miss 😂😂#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/48ed4tI3ey
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) February 26, 2025
In the weeks since, Cornett has spoken out about her experience in dealing with the rumor, which she said resulted in an overwhelming amount of harassment and her ultimately moving into emergency housing and switching to online courses. On multiple occasions, she has specifically highlighted McAfee’s role in amplifying the rumor while threatening potential legal action against the College GameDay star.
“I’m not a public figure that you can go talk about on your show to get more views,” she told NBC Nightly News, before later adding: “I don’t think these boys know what they’re doing to people.”
While McAfee had remained mum on the subject until Wednesday’s live show, his comments indicate a willingness to resolve the situation — presumably without legal action being involved. It will be interesting to see how the West Virginia product goes about trying to do that, as well as whether Cornett is receptive to the olive branch he appears to be offering.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.