The Josh Innes Show - McAfee Under Attack

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

Mary Kate Cornett, the Ole Miss student who was rumored to have had an affair with her boyfriends dad, told her story to NBC. She doesn't like Pat McAfee. Seemingly, many media people don't like Pat McAfee. It's absurd the amount of hate Pat gets. Why does Pat get all this hate? The answer is pretty obvious. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So I was watching this interview with this Mary Kay Cornett, Mary Kate Cornett, and she's the gal, the 19-year-old chick from Ole Miss who allegedly had an affair with her boyfriend's dad. That was the rumor. That was the gossip on the internet, on Twitter and everything a couple of weeks ago. And she says it's not true and all that and it's ruined her life. And it was all 100% false, and that's all fine. Like, I don't know if she did or didn't, and honestly, at the end of the day, it's not really that big of a deal. But it was, like, a huge story.

It was a gigantic story that people in every field were talking about, every type of media were talking about. It was huge on social media. There was the hashtag and all that. So it became a huge story. And apparently this whole thing has ruined this gal's life and she's gotten threats over this and like thousands of like credible threats and all the shit. Her personal information was leaked on the internet and everything else. And it is an interesting discussion about the dangers of the internet, which we know the internet sucks anyway, right? We know that social media sucks. That's why I don't really do a ton on social media anymore.

It's just not a pleasant place. That's just the way of the world. It's a bad, horrible place. I get what it's like to have people telling lies about you. Now, I don't know what it's like to have people telling lies about you now I don't know what it's like to be this chick who is the number one trend in the world and she's sitting here fighting for a reputation maybe she did maybe she didn't do this I don't know I mean there's no true way of knowing you just take her word for it her word is that she didn't have an affair with this guy's her boyfriend's dad okay fine but like I don't know what it's like to be at that level of the whole world thinks you're terrible and is talking shit about you i have had a couple of moments that were large but nothing that was like that like i don't know i guess i don't know if the thing at radio row was

a number one trend or not i know it was a huge fucking story and i know that in philadelphia when i got suspended atIP it was a big story and your face and your name is everywhere when I got fired there your name and face is everywhere but I don't know what it's like to be in that spot so I don't want to say oh boy I know what she's going through because I don't although on a guess to a lesser degree I've experienced it but like the internet's the worst social media is the worst the scary part is how quickly things that are not true become true to people and like naturally people are going to talk about it right like i see that pat mcafee is the like the main name they're using for like why this story spread

which is really bullshit because barstool did stuff mcafee talked about i don't even think mcafee mentioned the chick's name he just said that there's this rumor going around on the internet, which is essentially kind of his job, right? As a talk show host, you talk about rumors. I would say that most of the shit that's on the internet and on social media is bullshit anyway. How is that any different than talking about a rumor that, you know, ex-basketball player wanted to get his coach fired? I mean, it's rumors on the internet. Now, one is a celebrity, one is somebody who's an innocent victim in all of this. I get that.

But my problem is that obviously the internet sucks, but the problem is who they're targeting as the reason for why this became what it became. Let me play a couple of commercials and we will continue. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition, including prize picks. It's a very simple concept. Hit all your picks and score higher minimum payouts on pick six, plus even more cash if you outscore the competition. Pick six is available in most states, including Missouri, California, Texas, Georgia, and more, and I

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So the guy who's getting most of the blame for all of this is Pat McAfee like I'm reading a Yahoo story right now and just there's a full paragraph Pat McAfee adds fuel to the fire the already volatile situation exploded even further when ESPN sports commentator Pat McAfee decided to discuss the rumor on his widely viewed show without reaching for any verification or giving Cornette the chance to defend herself, McAfee and his co-hosts laughed about the viral scandal, treating the baseless claim like an entertaining piece of sports drama.

But it is. Like, this is the world you have created. You have created this world where rumors are spread on the internet and people are gonna fucking talk about them. Like, this is not a situation, this is not a, hey, not a hey the coach is getting fired let me get two sources this is an internet rumor that people are talking about it fucking

sucks that it happened and i feel bad for the chick if it's not true and her life is actually ruined or whatever sorry i feel bad for you but the reality is this is what we do now this is the world who isn't going to talk about that that's what they do so like this idea that pat mcafee is some evil fucking person for talking about something that the entire fucking world was talking about is asinine cornette who had been desperately trying to clear her name was blindsided this has has affected me in such an awful way and has practically ruined my life, Cornette said, and I feel bad for you. She slammed McAfee stating, McAfee never once reached out to me to ask if this was true or for me to give any sort of

statement to him. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that an espn sports broadcaster would be talking about a 19 year old girl sex scandal that was completely false then ma'am i hate to break it to you you don't know how the fucking internet works like again it sucks this happened to you but like and look and also i don't like when people say a 19 year old girl like don't okay like i whatever but my problem with this is that people are treating McAfee like he's some giant piece of shit because he talked about something that everybody on the fucking internet was talking about. Legal experts have since weighed in suggesting McAfee and ESPN could face serious legal

consequences for amplifying the defamatory rumor without any factual basis. But that's what the world is. Why is this the story that we're super focused on? People have shit told about them and lied about all the fucking time. The number of lies I had to read about myself on the internet that people talked about. I mean, come on, man. Like, again, this sucks and it sucks that it happened to you but the world is talking about it you want to sue someone sue social media but the fact that they

just keep hammering mcafee mcafee is a target of people and it's wild man like you don't even have to like the dude this isn't about whether or not you like mcafee or don't like mcafee because like for the most part like jilly loves mcafee i'm more like yeah whatever like some of the stuff he does i admire the fact that he's built this very successful thing and i think a lot of the shit he does is pretty good i also find a lot of it to be fucking obnoxious uh and like the worst is when mcafee and his dudes are doing like the the watch alongs of like a championship game or something and the entire conversation is just them speaking in the pittsburgh accent thing or like just repeating the same quote over and over which

in his defense he has to sit there for four hours and watch a football game and try to keep people entertained so it's not the easiest fucking thing in the world but like this idea that like like that mcafee is like this evil human it's like people fucking hate this guy they fucking hate him and it's just crazy like the whole world talked about this girl's story the whole world yet mcafee is the guy we circle and go yep mcafee should get sued for this shit like come on man like like if you're someone who's like on the radio or doing a podcast hosting a tv show whatever and a rumor comes across the internet and the whole world is talking about it whose fault is that it's probably the fucking internet's fault sue the internet go for it

sue twitter sue x formerly known as twitter go do all that shit. But like this idea that McAfee is this giant scumbag for this, like this is what the internet is. The internet puts this shit out there and people talk about it. You want to make the world a better fucking place? Get rid of social media. You're never going to get rid of social media because too many people are rich from social media and they've built their entire brand on social media. Social media is a terrible, toxic, horrible place where mostly bad shit happens and everyone talks shit. The other night I tweeted that I'm happy whenever Houston is successful.

I get tweets from people that I can go fuck myself. Like, I mean, that's just the way the internet works. That's the way the world works. This is the world we have fucking created. So if you want to stop all of it, say no more social media. Get rid of Facebook, please. Get rid of X.

Get rid of Instagram. Get rid of all of it, and I think the world would be a 100% better place, but you're not going to do that. That's never going to happen, so you have to deal with this kind of shit. Again, the number of false things I read about myself that people speak on as if they are fact is remarkable,

and I'm a nobody and that happens. So I can imagine this chick's life was ruined by a lot of this shit. I feel bad for her. I get it. Not a week goes by that if I don't comment on something on social media, somebody comes back at me with something that is factually inaccurate. Oh, you got your radio station kicked off a radio row because of you. Not the truth, but nobody cares about the truth. It's the internet, right? It's a horrible, vile place. So the fact that McAfee is somehow like the face of everything that is wrong in this story is bullshit. Sorry that the story got out there. Sorry that it was bullshit. Sorry that your life has been ruined by it. That sucks.

But as long as we still operate in this world of social media, that's going to happen to people. Hell, I love all these sanctimonious holier-than-thou news outlets who are like, oh my God, I can't believe that this Pat McAfee, because her interview was on NBC, I think. Like the idea that like McAfee is this awful human. How about all the shit that these mainstream news fucks do? And then they want to act like they're holier than thou, better than you dick weeds who go after people like McAfee because, oh, he didn't even,

first of all, didn't even mention the chick's name. He just talked about the story, which the whole world was. But think of the bad, horrible shit that these news outlets do. Think about the lies they tell. Think about how quick they are to post somebody's picture whenever it's some sort of crime that they know that they can get a bunch of attention for,

some sort of shooting, whatever it is. They'll go right out there real quick and they have no qualms with putting up a person's picture because they think they're doing it under the guise of like doing what's right, whatever. No, there are so many lies told by mainstream media people and they get egg on their face for it and somehow are not held accountable for it but they want to sit here and go off on pat mcafee who does do a show that's just for his fucking jabroni ass bro listeners that's the show he does and and he's

your target he's the guy. He's the guy. And the hatred for this guy is truly fascinating. And look, there are people I hate. I don't hate McAfee. I'm fine with McAfee. Jilly loves McAfee. That's like her guy. She's upset that she doesn't get to go to his big show in Pittsburgh in a couple days.

She loves McAfee. Totally cool with it. There are a lot of things he does that I think are very good. There's a lot of shit he does. It's just kind of like, it's getting a kind of, it's obnoxious and annoying, but he's got a big audience in the same way that Stephen A. Smith has a big audience. Same way that Joe Rogan has a big audience. They have an audience because people like what they do and that's their job. That's what they do. They get people's attention. But I love it because what this is, it almost feels coordinated. It's like a coordinated attack by mainstream media people who don't like that the podcast guy has become this massive thing. This podcast former punter bro guy has become this huge thing.

And it's not just McAfee. It's the fact that podcasts are becoming more important to society than the local news. And they're certainly more important than the local newspaper and traditional media. People hate new media people. They hate podcasters. They hate them all. So when they see an opportunity to say, ha ha ha, let's go after this motherfucker, they're going to do it. And that's what's happening to McAfee here. Because I guarantee you, most of these news outlets are running with false bullshit pretty frequently, and they have no qualms. Part of their big thing is, this poor girl's life was ruined. You motherfuckers in the news have ruined a lot of people's lives.

With no real justification or basis for it, you have no problem doing it, and you have no problem stoking racial fires, sex fires. You have no problem stoking these flames and fanning the flames and making them grow bigger. And then you want to clutch pearls over this shit. Again, sorry it happened to this chick. Sorry that this story was out there. The whole world talked about it. What you should be doing is fighting for the fucking social media to just be banished because it's terrible. How many good things come out of social media versus how many bad things come out of social media? How many fucked up kids do you think we're going to see in 10, 15 years who grew up with nothing but social media? So they've had to deal with this their whole fucking lives and they're going to grow up fucking whacked out but no one cares about that because you're all benefiting from social media all while

clutching your pearls over how terrible social media is and how terrible pat mcafee is how terrible barstool is you guys have no problems when you get uh liberal people or whatever on your news channels that just pontificate about shit that has no basis in reality yet it stokes the flames of other shit you have no problems with that you have no problem when people say dumb racial shit that's not true you have no problem with that but you have a problem with this you're just torn up over pat fucking McAfee. It's just, it's wild that he's just like, it's crazy how powerful this guy is. It's crazy. Cause you know, you're powerful when so many people and not just viewers, whatever, when so many people fucking hate you and they want to take you down, they are threatened by you. It is the same reason all the people at ESPN were threatened by Pat McAfee. It's the same thing happened to Pat. Here's the

hypocrisy. I can't believe I'm sitting here just, I'm not standing for Pat, but I will defend the guy and I'll defend him in this. When he got the $10 million deal or whatever it was to put the show on ESPN, how many people on the internet and how many people working at ESPN did you hear say shit like, all these people are getting fired yet ESPN finds money for Pat McAfee. And it was a huge story that Pat McAfee was getting all this money while other people were getting fired and other people, people of color, women, whatever, weren't getting these opportunities. But nobody said a fucking word when Stephen A. Smith got $10 million. And Stephen A. Smith, bless his heart, is a fucking stooge.

So is McAfee. There are different types of stooges. But Stephen A. Smith, you want to talk about a dude that says incendiary bullshit, go sue Stephen A. Smith for the dumb shit he says. But when Stephen A. Smith gets $10 million, you didn't hear a peep. You didn't hear a fucking peep from people that were like oh other people are getting fired oh my god ESPN is firing so many people and they're giving this money to Stephen A. Smith what but when Pat McAfee got it Pat McAfee gets shit on

and it's because they fucking hate Pat McAfee and they're threatened by Pat McAfee and that's why I admire him I admire people who scare dipshits. I admire people who build their own fucking sandbox and play in their own fucking sandbox. Let us not forget, ESPN wanted the Pat McAfee show. He owns that fucking show. ESPN wanted that show on there so they pay like a licensing fee.

And that's also part, I would imagine that's also part of the deal that includes him doing game day and other shit. I don't know all the details of his contract. I have no fucking clue. But they hate this guy. They despise him. And I admire him for that.

People who upset the apple cart, shake things up, scare the old guard. Things that Stern used to do before he became the old guard. People like that. People who do shit that scare people, thus they have to build it. It's the same shit that was happening to me in fucking Philadelphia. Again, smaller scale, but people were threatened by me in Philadelphia because I was doing something different and trying to be interesting. Thus, they tried to bring me down constantly. That's what people do when they're afraid of you changing the game. And

McAfee has changed the game. And now he's like the only person the world is talking about in this Mary Kate Cornett story as if he's the only person that talked about it. Go scan people's social media, big time media people on social media and see what they were doing. See what they were saying about this. Give me a fucking break, man. The internet sucks. Social media sucks. It's unfortunate that it happens to this person and social media can really fuck your day up and ruin a lot about your life. So I get it. My biggest mistakes I've made were social media related shit. The times I've gotten fired, I believe both of them were more so. So well, the one in Philly, I didn't get fired over shit. I said on the the radio I got fired because of something that I tweeted well yes I did get fired for that but um it was you know there was a lot of shit in the

making for that that was just their reason for that was their opportunity to whack me but the internet's terrible and we know the internet's terrible and people just want to destroy Mcackie that just only makes him stronger but i don't know that there's a human on the planet media wise maybe even joe rogan probably because joe rogan has the biggest podcast in the world people love him or they hate him but i don't think there's somebody that gets that type of heat like mack if he does and i think it's mostly because he's a he wears a fucking tank top and he's a white dude that's a bro and people just love to hate white bro dudes. He's like sports version of bro country.

Anyway, more to come.