Actor Matthew Lillard claimed there are “more rapists” from Cornell than transgender athletes competing, pulling a hot-button issue into a messy campus assault case.
Story Highlights
- Lillard made the claim on a podcast while referencing a Cornell assault lawsuit.
- The cited Cornell case names seven fraternity members as defendants in a civil suit.
- Cornell’s own 2025 survey reported high levels of self-reported sexual assault among students.
- No verified count exists for transgender athletes that matches Lillard’s global comparison.
Lillard’s Podcast Claim And The Cornell Lawsuit Tie-In
Matthew Lillard said on the podcast I’ve Never Said This Before that he “reposted something” claiming there are more “rapists from that university” than transgender athletes competing in sports, and called the point “relevant”. Reports link the comment to a September 2026 lawsuit by a former Cornell student against the university and seven Chi Phi fraternity members over an alleged 2024 assault. The case describes intoxication, an alleged drugging, group chats, and a prolonged assault, all now in civil court filings.
Lillard’s wording does not define “rapist,” and the case he referenced is a civil lawsuit, not a list of criminal convictions. The reports do not show that all seven defendants were found liable or guilty in any court. His comparison also mixes scales, contrasting Cornell-linked alleged offenders with transgender athletes “in the world,” which makes the math unclear and hard to test. These gaps have fueled online debate while the lawsuit proceeds through legal channels.
What Cornell’s Own Data Says About Sexual Misconduct
Cornell’s 2025 sexual misconduct survey reported high levels of self-reported harm. Among respondents, 35 percent of undergraduate women said they had experienced sexual assault during their time at Cornell, up from 23 percent in 2023, and 52 percent among Greek-affiliated undergraduate women reported the same. The university’s task force also cited 8 percent among undergraduate men. These are alarming signals, though they measure reported experiences, not proven offenses or unique perpetrators.
The survey had a low response rate, about 15 percent overall and 13 percent among undergraduates, which limits how far the numbers can be generalized. Federal reviews have warned that different survey designs and weak response rates can make campus results hard to compare across schools. Even so, the Cornell figures show real concern from students. That is why families expect colleges to act fast, enforce rules, and cooperate with police when crimes are reported.
Transgender Athlete Numbers Remain Small And Undefined
Researchers and coverage note that transgender participation in college sports appears to be very small, but there is no single verified national or global count that matches Lillard’s phrasing. One study found 1.6 percent of 880 surveyed college athletes identified as transgender and or nonbinary, but that small pilot cannot be scaled to all sports rosters. Without a clear denominator, a claim that compares a university’s alleged offenders to “the world” of transgender athletes is not testable from public data.
Advocates have reframed the debate by saying the viral comparison really contrasts the seven men named in the Cornell case with the tiny number of transgender women in collegiate sports before recent bans, not with all offenders at Cornell. That reading narrows the claim but still leaves the same data gap. For conservative readers, the lesson is simple: focus on facts we can verify, demand due process, punish proven predators, and stop letting culture-war slogans replace clear policy and law enforcement priorities.
Sources:
twitchy.com, thepinknews.com, pjmedia.com, news.cornell.edu, redstate.com, officeofcivilrights.cornell.edu, class.unt.edu, niskanencenter.org
