POLITICS: Ole Miss student Mary Kate Cornett’s life altered by online rumors

Psst, did you hear about Mary Kate Cornett at Ole Miss – and how she slept with her boyfriend Evan Solis’ dad during winter break?

And omg, they are still together despite Evan knowning that Mary Kate slept with his dad, who by the way is such dog. He cheats on his wife all the time.

Pass it on.

If you’re unfamiliar with this story, the players or you think this sounds like the ramblings of a nasty teen gossip girl, congrats. You have a brain and a shred of decency.

Sadly for this couple and their families, swathes of social media users, including some influential names in sports and pop culture rode this unsubstantiated tale about people they never heard of until a few days ago, all the way to the gutter.

And now these random folks have had their lives upended. They’ve spoken out to deny the allegations and even filed a police report.

The whole debacle is an indictment of our careless social media discourse, and proves that culturally, we’re stuck in middle school.

To recap, a few days ago, a screenshot of a poorly written snapchat message appeared on a social media platform – it’s exact origins difficult to place. Littered with the word “like,” it told the saga of Mary Kate from Ole Miss who went home for break, and then out to dinner with her boyfriend’s dad who got her drunk and into bed.

It became the zesty topic du jour for the bored masses, many of whom fetishize SEC frat culture and pretty young chicks – despite being decades past their own glory days.

The rumor took off like a rocket, crop dusting everyone’s timeline and turning #MaryKate into a trending topic on X. Online sleuths dug through the families’ digital footprint, posting photos of both teens, their parents and the elder Solis’ linkedin.

According to the police report, Mary Kate who is only 18 learned of the rumors while in a salon in Oxford, Mississippi. Her Houston based parents flew to be with their daughter, telling TMZ, they “felt absolutely helpless.” And that she was treated “like she wasn’t a human being.”

It’s super virality was given an assist by some big accounts on various platforms.

Barstool Sports’ Kevin Clancy, known as KFC, who took the bait. On his personal account In a now deleted video, he noted that he felt a bit uncomfortable with the tale but his job is to review internet news, and he doesn’t pick the topic. The topic was decided for him.

Oh the desperation to be in on the conversation and not miss out on sweet sweet clicks!

ESPN’s Pat McAfee also joined the pile on, referencing it on his show.

Both teens issued statements denying the salacious story, and Mary Kate says she’s been doxxed, cyberstalked and harrassed. She named Barstool, Pat McAfee as well as unhinged former NFL star Antonio Brown and said she’d been the victim of a “deliberate and coordinated cyberattack spreading categorically false and defamatory information.”

Look, gossip is fun, and it has been enjoyed and weaponized since the dawn of time. There’s nothing more delicious than the celebrity rumor mill and a little harmless tittle-tattle.

But we’re talking about two innocent teens who did nothing to ask for the spotlight. They didn’t get arrested for public drunkeness, they aren’t college athletes, and they didn’t post a narcissistic video begging for engagement.

They simply didn’t enter public life, willingly.

No wonder kids are so anxious these days.

And this is a harbinger of dangerous things to come because it can happen to anyone.

As adults, we’re supposed to be above the fray and protect young people – however, online mob mentality has dulled our humanity and given us permission to slip back into our catty, insecure adolescent selves.

And collectively, we have the memory of a goldfish.

Which means, we’ll soon move on to the next shiny object – even as Mary Kate and Evan struggle to escape the stench of this malicious campaign.

And the duo will be just one chapter, in the big petty middle school slam book, we call social media.