A Texas college student subject of lurid and baseless rumors about her sex life has broken her silence, slamming her trolls as “sick and demented.”
Mary Kate Cornett, 18, a student at the University of Mississippi, released a statement denouncing the “deliberate and coordinated cyberattack spreading categorically false and defamatory information.”
The Houston teenager also attacked Antonio Brown and Pat McAfee from “ESPN College GameDay” for pushing what she described as “utter and complete lies,” according to a statement shared by her father Justin Cornett on Facebook.
“By now, some of you know my daughter, Mary Kate Cornett, has been the subject of a totally and categorically false, malicious, organized and defamatory cyber attack. She has been publicly doxed and our family has been forced to take protective measures to ensure her safety,” he wrote.
The scandalous allegations claimed Mary Kate had cheated on her boyfriend Evan Solis with his father, prominent Texas-based private banker Erik Solis.
A screenshot of an alleged Snapchat message laying out what had happened was shared by X user @MAGAgeddon on Tuesday.
The post claimed that Mary Kate and Solis had gone out for dinner and drinks after a basketball game before they ended up having an affair.
The message also alleged that this wasn’t the first time that Mary Kate had cheated on Evan, but said they had stayed together.
These unverified claims were picked up by the so-called “Burnerverse,” a term which refers to any anonymous community of social media users who spread chatter and gossip, often surrounding American college and frat life.
“These past couple of days have been extremely difficult for everyone in my life,” Evan Solis wrote on his Instagram page Thursday evening.
“The unbelievable rumors about my family and Mary Kate’s are unacceptable and need to be addressed. The accusations are unequivocally false,” he continued, calling his faith in his father and their relationship “unwavering” in the post.
“He is wholly innocent and being unfairly slandered with no opportunity to speak on his own behalf prior to these horrendously false statements.”
The unproven allegations also made it to the ESPN broadcast, where they were referenced by Pat McAfee and Antonio Brown without naming any of the parties involved directly, but did mention Ole Miss.
In the wake of the allegations becoming the top trend on X, Erik Solis shut down his LinkedIn, and Mary Kate turned her Instagram settings to private after her cell phone number and home address were leaked online by malicious trolls.
“Most alarmingly, my personal contact information has been doxed [and] illegally shared publicly, putting my personal safety at risk. Many notes sent suggest I even take my own life,” she wrote.
Mary Kate hit out at those who had doxxed her and said she had filed reports with campus police, local cops in Oxford, Mississippi, and the FBI, after the fake story about her even inspired a meme coin using her likeness.
“For completeness, we have zero affiliation with this scam and have not participated nor know anyone who has benefited in any capacity with it whatsoever,” she said.
She added that the “viral” claims had forced her to consider moving colleges and vowed to “find those responsible for these utterly false accusations.”
All proceeds from the GoFundMe will go toward “establishing a foundation focused on helping innocent victims of similar defamatory cyber attacks,” she went on in the description.
Neither Mary Kate, campus police, or the Oxford, Mississippi police responded immediately to requests for comment.
