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 that's a really hard thing for a girl to go through. In her first TV interview, Old Miss freshman Mary Kate Cornet told me how she became famous on the internet and social media in the worst possible way.
In February, an online rumor went viral claiming an Old Miss sorority sister slept with her boyfriend's father. Then someone attached Cornet's name and photo to it. Do you know why the rumor started?
No clue. No clue. I had zero zero zero knowledge of this.
This disgusting rumor was a top trending topic on Twitter. Within 2 and 1/2 hours later that night around 7:00 p. m.
, I was number one trending in the United States. I I felt so helpless and so alone because so many people were hating on me for something that I had no idea any anything about. I mean, I'm a very normal person, just like any teenage girl.
I care about what people think about me. I mean, any teenage girl can relate to that. Cornett's phone number was also shared online.
She was overwhelmed with harassing texts and voicemails. I was having thousands of calls come through, thousands of texts coming through calling me a calling me a telling me I deserve to die. When When you look back at the last 5 weeks, is there one moment that sticks out for you?
with myself. It would probably be at 3:00 a. m.
when I was throwing up while holding the phone with all the texts on it just saying how horrible of a person I was and that I should end my life. All because of an internet rumor. All because of an internet rumor that has zero truth to it.
Zero. Cornet says she could barely leave her dorm room. Had to switch to online classes.
Someone even sent police to her mother's house in a fake 911 call. Some old miss frat bro. Yep.
Sir. Okay. Hey, KD girlfriend.
Soon the rumor was picked up by ESPN host Pat McAfee, though he didn't use her name. This is what is being reported by everybody on the internet. Dad had sex with son's girlfriend.
Has anyone apologized to you? No. No, they have not at all.
I want these famous people to know that I was not famous before this. I'm not a public figure that you can go talk about on your show to get more views. I'm not.
Sorry. Nobody knows who I am or nobody did know who I was. But them pressing this and pushing it farther made the made my situation so much worse because the people who were talking about it are the people that I would want to take a picture with if I saw it in public.
They're people that I watched. Pat McAfee, ESPN. That's on my living room TV every single night.
That's kind of hurt that he's talking that way. It does because I used to look up to these people and now these same people are making me feel worthless. Yeah.
And that I'm just a joke. ESPN and Pat McAfee declined NBC News's request for comment. Cornet says she hit rock bottom when she realized her name would forever be linked to the rumor spread online.
I don't think that these boys realize what they're doing to people. It's awful. It's awful.
And having your life ruined by people who have no idea who you are is the worst feeling in the world. It makes you feel so alone. Cornet now wants justice.
Her lawyer says she's been defamed and is a victim of cyber bullying. The rumor is false. People promoted it without looking into it.
You can't lie for money. Are there laws that protect Mary Kate? because it seems like the internet, social media, it's the wild wild west.
To some degree, the law hasn't caught up with the speed at which a lie travels online and the fact that it's now kind of anchored to her name forever. Um, but defamation exists. There's growing protections against cyber bullying.
There's growing protections against um, you know, making fake pictures, which has also happened to Mary Kate. the the legal regime is catching up for now. She says she's leaning on her friends and family, including her father.
I just wonder why. Why my daughter? She wasn't looking for any of this.
She never asked for any attention. She's trying to be a a freshman in college. Instead, she's been tested like never before.
I have no idea how this started or why, but I do know that this has affected me in such an awful way and has practically ruined my life. Yo, what what would you tell to that person? Um, just that your actions have consequences, real consequences that I will be living and facing for the rest of my life.
that many other girls face things like this that will affect the rest of their lives. Tom Yamos, NBC News. Thanks for watching.
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