Emoji app endorsed by Rob Gronkowski is falsely touting Steve Wozniak as an advisor

New England Patriots tight end Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski and entrepreneur Jeremy Greene have been on a press tour promoting a new app called Mojiit, an augmented-reality chat app in which users can send 3D virtual avatars of themselves.

Gronkowski and Greene stopped by Yahoo Finance on Friday to discuss the app, and Greene repeatedly touted Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak as an advisor to Mojiit. (Watch the above video.)

Despite their claims, a press release announcing the advisorship, and Mojiit’s Crunchbase page, which lists Wozniak as an advisor, Wozniak says he has no involvement with Mojiit.

Wozniak camp denies involvement in Mojiit

Wozniak’s business partner Ken Hardesty, responding to routine fact-checking sent to Wozniak’s email address, told Yahoo Finance that the Silicon Valley titan, “has not been involved in any discussions or capacity with Mojiit.”

“Steve Wozniak had met with Jeremy Greene one evening at which time Jeremy explained the position of Mojiit and then offered Steve to become an advisor to Mojiit of which Steve was impressed and said it sounded good at the time,” Hardesty wrote Yahoo Finance in an email.

“The following day after Steve had reviewed further due diligence on his other business commitments, Steve decided not to be involved in Jeremy Greene’s company Mojiit,” wrote Hardesty. “[He therefore did not move forward to discuss or accept an advisor position] and has not been involved in any discussions or capacity with Mojiit.”

After publication, Wozniak himself responded, confirming that he is not an advisor.

“I have conflicts, so even an advisory position is out for me,” wrote Steve Wozniak to Yahoo Finance. “I think that his market is ripe for good products, but I can be of no help to his business.”

Greene has been touting Wozniak’s involvement for months

Wozniak declined to be involved with Mojiit the day after meeting with Greene, but Mojiit nonetheless put out a press release on Aug. 16 announcing the advisorship. It said Wozniak, “will help assemble a world-class engineering team in addition to bringing investors and partnerships” to Mojiit.

The press release even featured a quote from Wozniak:

At Yahoo Finance, Greene called Wozniak a “mentor” and recounted how he got the Apple co-founder to back Mojiit:

“I hit him up, told my story. We went out there and met with him and he was just such a fun-loving guy and he just made so much sense. I show him the product, and he was like I love it, let’s do it,” said Greene. “He’s definitely a great mentor of mine and has been really exponential in moving this company forward and making introductions.”

On other programs on the same day, such as Fox Business and CNBC, Greene trumpeted Wozniak’s involvement. And LA Business Journal included Wozniak’s involvement with Mojiit in its daily newsletter.

Greene also said that Hardesty himself, Wozniak’s business partner, has been involved: “Ken Hardesty is amazing to deal with.”

Mojiit is set to debut sometime in mid-December.

Update: This story has been updated to include a quote from Steve Wozniak.

Ethan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann. Confidential tip line: emann[at]oath[.com].

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