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‘Girl Dad’ Pat McAfee Speaks Out on Fake Sex Scandal Rumor

The ESPN host apologized to an Ole Miss student, 18, for spreading vicious rumors about her sex life.

ESPN host Pat McAfee has apologized for spreading a fake viral internet story about an 18-year-old Ole Miss student. McAfee revealed on his show, The Pat McAfee Show, on Wednesday that he apologized to the family of Mary Kate Cornett, who was at the center of a false rumor in February that she was involved in a sex scandal with her boyfriend’s dad. Months later, McAfee admitted that he had “since learned that the story was not true and that my show played a role in the anguish caused to a great family, and especially to a young woman.” “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 and acknowledge that what I said about Mary Kate was based solely on what others were saying on the internet, or had previously been reported by others,” he said. He added that “as a girl dad,” he was “very thankful” to be able to let Cornett’s dad know that he “was wildly regretful” for the part his show played in Cornett’s “pain.” Cornett told NBC in April that she “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.”