Credit: @verdinverdict / X
By Drew Lerner on

Less AI and more AA in your search results.

Add Awful Announcing as a preferred source on Google

It turns out, Lane Kiffin’s highly anticipated return to Ole Miss was just one of two notable reunions to happen on Saturday evening.

The other: ESPN star Pat McAfee and Mary Kate Cornett, the Ole Miss college student who threatened legal action against McAfee last year after he helped spread a false and salacious rumor on his show suggesting Cornett cheated on her boyfriend with his father.

While McAfee never used Cornett’s name on-air and also characterized the allegations accurately as rumors, Cornett would take direct aim at McAfee and multiple Barstool Sports personalities, all of whom used their platforms to advance the false story last year.

About one month after McAfee discussed the rumors on his show, Cornett shared her story with several outlets, including NBC News and The Athletic, which detailed McAfee’s and Barstool’s role in spreading unfounded information about her. Barstool issued an apology to Cornett shortly after she began sharing her story with the press. McAfee, meanwhile, took several months to address the matter on his show, eventually reading a statement apologizing to the Cornett family for the “anguish” he helped cause.

Now, just over a year after McAfee issued his apology, Cornett was spotted with the ESPN star on the field at Saturday’s game between LSU and Ole Miss, per reports by Yardbarker and Marca.

Multiple videos and photos posted to social media show Cornett, donning a field pass, alongside McAfee.

Photos posted to Cornett’s personal Instagram page confirm that the woman in the viral photos and videos was, in fact, her.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mary Kate Cornett (@marykate.cornett)

It is unclear whether Cornett was there with McAfee in any capacity, or whether the two simply happened to be on the field near each other. McAfee, of course, was there to cover the game with College GameDay on-site. Cornett, on the other hand, has had field access to other Ole Miss games in the past, when McAfee hasn’t been in attendance.

Regardless, the two being so close to one another after everything that happened was surprising. Cornett symbolizes one of the lowest moments in McAfee’s television career and created an onslaught of negative PR for ESPN. The Athletic’s report went into great detail about the distress Cornett says came from the ordeal. Awful Announcing named the Cornett saga as the worst sports media story of 2025. And almost 18 months after the false rumors about Cornett initially began to spread, she is still a key figure in the growing phenomenon known as the “burnerverse,” where anonymous social media accounts dox and harass college-aged girls.

Perhaps Cornett took McAfee’s apology to heart, and they’re letting bygones be bygones. Perhaps the two never even spoke. But whatever the case, McAfee and Cornett standing mere feet from one another on a football field was not something most would’ve anticipated just 12 months ago.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.

View all posts by Drew Lerner