In other news, you may have heard the name Andre Gray recently on the news. He's a Belizean American who claims to be one of the world's top inventors, and he's been featured on local media outlets such as LoveFM, News 5, and the Amandala Newspaper. 7News has, so far, steered clear of reporting on Gray, due to the lack of validation of the websites where he is featured.
However, when we saw that Gray received the keys to Belize City earlier this week, we saw that his profile was increasing, so we decided to dig a little deeper into Gray's claims.
What we found were unaccredited websites, suspicious links, and questionable representations made by Gray himself.
Courtney Menzies took a closer look into this supposed world class inventor - here is her story.
Lately, local news outlets and the political establishment have been fawning over Andre Gray, a Belizean-American who claims to be one of the world's top inventors. Most recently, he was given the keys to the city by Mayor Bernard Wagner, who gushed about Gray.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor
"He's a national treasure, recognized worldwide, Washington Mail, London Defender, 100 most influential person of the year, and he's a born and bred Belizean, Belizean American, not American Belizean. And he has been responsible, his work, his innovation, his technology driven activities is what got this, that telephone that you are using, this technology that we are using, he's responsible for. We have to get him in our schools, we have to utilize that resources, that's a valuable resource."
If you - like the Mayor - believe what you read from dubious fake news sites we've never heard of - Gray is credited for many inventions, including ringtones and ringbacks, the first digital DJ software, the electronic ticket, the electronic press kit - which is said to be the birth of social media, and even the "cyberpunk" genre. He's also said to have uploaded the first song ever to the internet, entitled "Internet Killed the Video Star" and he has even supposedly designed the "voicemail" logo, and inspired the design for the "Bitcoin" logo.
He was also named last year's Washington Mail's Person of the Year - for the second year in a row, and the London Defender's Most Influential Person In The World! In-the-world! On that same list, Elon Musk is #14, and Mark Zuckerberg is #26.
But a closer look at these websites show that they're not genuine media - every story written on the Washington Mail was done so by "The Editorial Board," which means that they are either submissions from the public that are not vetted, or sponsored posts - basically, pay to play. A quick Google Search of the London Defender doesn't even bring up the front page of the so-called news site - which, when you click through the links, you'll see it's just a front for press releases.
The other websites that feature him - The New York Today, The Los Angeles Tribune, The Daily Silicon - are also all unaccredited sites which have no credence as news outlets.
And, in an interview with The Amandala Newspaper, Gray tells a reporter that he is the first black person to attend The Juilliard School - but another Google Search shows that that title actually belongs to Anne Brown, in 1932 - 34 years before Gray was born.
And it's these fraudulent websites and misrepresentations of the truth that had our team at 7News suspicious of Gray's alleged "achievements." That led us to the gates of "Di Zinc Fence," where we waited for Gray as he exited The Morning Stew set. Here's how that exchange went:
Courtney Menzies:
"Mr Gray, hi, good morning, we're from the local media here in Belize, we're hoping to get an interview with you."
Andre Gray, Claims To Be Inventor
"Yes can you guys give me your business cards and we can arrange for later, I'm late for an appointment."
Reporter:
"Sir, we just want to know if everything- because a lot of things that you are saying do not check out, you're making a lot of claims that don't check out. So we want proof for everything that you're claiming. The Johannes Gutenberg Award wasn't given to you in 2002, that was someone else."
Andre Gray, Claims To Be Inventor
"[laughs] On that note, I have to go, one thing I do not do is to stoop to the level of nonsense and have people drag me down."
Reporter:
"Sir, are your achievements exaggerated?"
Reporter:
"Why are you not on CNN and all these big stations if you're stuck a huge inventor?"
Reporter:
"No Aljazeera, no CNN, no…"
Courtney Menzies:
"ABC, MSN, nothing like that."
Reporter:
"What do you have to say sir?"
Courtney Menzies:
"Sir, is this all a ruse, sir?"
Reporter:
"Are you a fraud?"
And just like that, this reported "Godfather of the Internet" drove off in a taxi cab.
So who really is Andre Gray? Is he indeed a great inventor who is responsible for the birth of social media, downloadable apps, and an entire genre of science fiction? Or is he just the inventor of a very elaborate ruse?
We also note that while the Washington Mail which named Gray person of the year for two years in a row - says it's been reporting since 1871, a quick domain age check says it was actually registered in October of 2022, and the London Defender - which called him the most influential person in the world - was registered in October of 2021.
This evening we reached out to Gray via WhatsApp but he has left our message on "read." Just before news time, we received a call from his brother, attorney Ian Gray, who explained that they are not interested in responding to our media house. Ian Gray also stopped by our office to drop off a letter which threatens legal action on behalf of his client, Andre Gray. The letter states, quote, "It is our information that your media house and other media houses plan to air his story which suggests that our client is a fraud and [his] accomplishments have been called into question… We are instructed that any damaging or injurious information aired by your station shall result in a claim in the Belize Supreme Court for defamation of character." End quote.
Ian Gray also claims that his brother has been mentioned in, quote, "High school and University textbooks in the USA." End quote. He also mentioned that his brother was featured in the New York Times, but our searches of that paper's online archive did not turn up any results.
And, Ian Grey also told us that he has personally filed 5 patents for his brother at Belipo in Belmopan. As for the Belize City Council, who handed over the keys to Gray, they have not given a comment on the matter. We have invited Andre Gray to do an interview on the questionable elements of what has been published online about him.
