By Social media sensation Afua Asantewaa asserts that Guinness World Records (GWR) violated their contract by publicizing the outcome of her singing marathon before she had the opportunity.
In an interview on GTV, she clarified that the contract with GWR stipulated that she would be notified of the results first, allowing her to make the announcement to the world.
“In the contract we signed, until I decide to let it out, they can’t. There are so many things I have tried in the past that I willingly embraced failure (and) that brought me this far. So why would I hide the results from the public? No way,” she said.
As of February 23, when Guinness World Records responded to a tweet, Afua Asantewaa expressed her lack of knowledge regarding the results of the record attempt. She explained that she couldn’t access the email sent by GWR containing the results. Despite notifying GWR about this issue on February 12, she has not received a response from them to date.
“As we speak, I cannot log in. And we had screenshots of it as if I knew this would happen. I lodged a complaint with them that I cannot access their website or my account so they should look into it for me because I need official documents, whatever they’ve sent to make a statement.”
Afua Asantewaa mentioned that she and her team were in the process of preparing to announce the results once Guinness World Records got back to them.
“What I understand is that everybody is emotional about this and anticipating a lot and I know that they wish that the results came from us. We were even planning where to break the news when we received it. We wanted to do a press conference and all that.”
She emphasized that she has no intention of deliberately concealing the results and, as she has done many times before, will accept the outcome and make another attempt if necessary.
In December 2023, Afua Asantewaa undertook the challenge to surpass the existing sing-a-thon record of 105 hours, established in 2012. Her effort involved a five-day singing marathon that commenced at midnight on Sunday, December 24, 2023, and concluded at 7:00 am on December 29, 2023.
At the time she ended her record attempt on Friday morning, the young woman had sung for five days, six hours and 55 minutes.
Ending her record attempt on an emotional note, Afua Asantewaa sang Osibisa’s ‘Woyaya’. The national anthem was later played to honour her and celebrate her efforts.
Days later, she was also appointed as a Tourism Ambassador by the Ghana Tourism Authority. Despite the anticipation surrounding the results of her record attempt, the Guinness World Records remained unresponsive.
In January 2024, she revealed that her team expedited the approval process by paying $750 to the Guinness World Records for a priority review. Despite the expectation of a result within five business days, her outcome was once again delayed, sparking rumors that she may not have succeeded.
On Friday, the GWR revealed that Afua Asantewaa failed to break the longest singing marathon she attempted in December 2023. They said this in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) adding that despite the setback they hope she makes another attempt.
“We’ve seen how inspirational it has been for her fans…We wish Afua the best of luck with any future record attempts,” they noted.
They added that the money Afua Asantewaa’s team paid for a priority review has been refunded.
“The evidence check had already begun before Afua requested priority service, so we refunded her payment earlier this month,” the statement read.
Their announcement raised doubts about whether the young lady intentionally concealed the results, especially given the refund of her payment.
In the GTV interview, Afua Asantewaa revealed that when she sent the money in January, GWR acknowledged it but did not inform her that the record attempt was under review. Furthermore, she noted that when the money was refunded, neither her bank nor GWR notified her of the repayment.
“Even the transaction we made they saw it after five days…so if they refunded it to me, refund is not confirmation of the success or unsuccessful attempt,” Afua Asantewaa said.
She noted that despite the results she believes getting to have this five-day experience is an accomplishment.
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