“That’s a really hard thing”: Ole Miss’ Mary-Kate Cornett breaks silence on the viral rumor of her sleeping with her BF’s dad

Mary-Kate Cornett became popular online earlier this year for the wrong reason. The Ole Miss freshman was wrongly accused of an immoral act that went viral on the internet.

In February, an online rumor spread rapidly, alleging that an Ole Miss sorority sister had an affair with her boyfriend's father. As the speculation gained traction, someone falsely linked the rumor to Cornett by attaching her name and photo, subjecting her to public criticism.

“Having the entire internet, half of the country hating you and calling you disgusting things, telling you to kill yourself, telling you that you're a horrible person, that you deserve to die—that's a really hard thing for a girl to go through,” Cornette said.

The rumor was subsequently picked up by ESPN analyst Pat McAfee on his show. Considering “The Pat McAfee Show” large viewership across the country and beyond, the rumor only spread further, compiling the woes for Mary-Kate Cornett who never sought attention.

Mary-Kate Cornett to file a lawsuit against Pat McAfee and others

Mary-Kate Cornett has already secured the service of a lawyer to file a lawsuit against Pat McAfee and those involved in the spreading of false information. Her lawyer claims the ESPN analyst and others involved will be charged in court for defamation and cyber-bullying.

NBC News claimed it tried to reach out to Pat McAfee from comments on this, however, the former Indianapolis Colts star declined to. Nonetheless, Cornette detailed her ordeal through the period to NBC News, as he faced probably the worst times of her life.

“I was having thousands of calls come through, thousands of texts coming through, calling me a whore, calling me a slut, telling me I deserve to die,”.Cornette said. “All because of an internet rumor? All because of an internet rumor that has zero truth to it.”

A horrible feeling from cyber-bullying

In her interview with NBC News, Mary-Kate Cornett said she hit rock bottom, realizing her name would always be tied to the false rumors circulating online. She still doesn't have a clue as to why all of this had happened to her.

“No clue,” Cornett said. ”I had zero, zero, zero knowledge of this. This disgusting rumor was a top-trending topic on Twitter within two and a half hours. Later that night, around 7 p.m., I was number one trending in the United States.”

Cornett said she could barely leave her dorm room and was forced to switch to online classes. The situation escalated further when someone made a fake 911 call, sending police to her mother's house. It was undoubtedly a dark moment for her in that period.