Haliey Aliene Welch ( ; born 2002 or 2003), commonly referred to as the Hawk Tuah Girl, is an American

Internet personality An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

. She became an

internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...

after being interviewed in a viral 2024

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

video in which she used a

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

, ''

hawk tuah ''Hawk tuah'' ( ) is an internet meme originating from a viral YouTube video posted in 2024. During a vox pop street interview in Nashville, Tennessee, Haliey Welch used the catchphrase ''hawk tuah'', an onomatopoeia for spitting or expectora ...

'', an

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetics, phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Oin ...

for

spitting Spitting is the act of forcibly ejecting saliva, sputum, nasal mucus and/or other substances from the mouth. The act is often done to get rid of unwanted or foul-tasting substances in the mouth, or to get rid of a large buildup of mucus. Spi ...

as a form of

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth). Cunnilingus is oral sex performed on the vu ...

, specifically

fellatio Fellatio (also known as fellation, and in slang as blowjob, BJ, giving head, or sucking off) is an oral sex act consisting of the stimulation of a human penis, penis by using the mouth. Oral stimulation of the scrotum may also be termed ''fellat ...

. She is also known for her podcast ''

Talk Tuah Haliey Aliene Welch ( ; born 2002 or 2003), commonly referred to as the Hawk Tuah Girl, is an American Internet personality. She became an internet meme after being interviewed in a viral 2024 TikTok video in which she used a catchphrase, ''ha ...

'' and a cryptocurrency coin which faced criticism following release.

Early and personal life

Welch is from

Belfast, Tennessee Belfast is an unincorporated community in Marshall County, Tennessee, United States. The area ZIP code is 37019. It is roughly halfway between Nashville, Tennessee, to the north and Huntsville, Alabama, to the south. History A post office was e ...

, and worked in a bedspring factory prior to internet fame. As of 2024, she lives with her paternal grandmother in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, who also raised her. On ''Howie Mandel Does Stuff'', a podcast hosted by Jewish-Canadian comedian

Howie Mandel Howard Michael Mandel (born November 29, 1955) is a Canadian comedian, television personality, actor, and producer. Mandel is known for voicing Gizmo in the 1984 film ''Gremlins'' and the 1990 sequel ''Gremlins 2: The New Batch'', playing rowd ...

, Welch performed a five-minute DNA saliva test live which revealed she allegedly had 97.7%

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

ancestry. The test's efficacy was questioned by the Jewish website ''Jewlicious''. Regardless, unsubstantiated claims were made on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

alleging that she was a

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

operative performing a psyop and that she was the daughter of an Israeli Jewish billionaire. Welch herself claims no knowledge of her family's heritage. In 2024, Welch claimed in a conversation with

Whitney Cummings Whitney Cummings (born September 4, 1982) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, writer, producer, director, and podcaster. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004, Cummings moved to Los Angeles. She appeared in the lo ...

that her mother, who she is no longer in contact with, was a crack user and she herself was born a crack baby.

Career

''Hawk tuah''

On June 11, 2024, a ''

vox pop ( ) is a Latin phrase (originally ''Vox populi, vox Dei'' – "The voice of the people is the voice of God") that literally means "voice of the people." It is used in English in the meaning "the opinion of the majority of the people." In journa ...

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, ''Tim & Dee TV'' owned by Tim Dickerson and DeArius Marlow, released a video featuring an interview with Haliey Welch in the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

district of

, United States. Welch and another woman approached Dickerson and Marlow and asked to be interviewed. The interview began with what Dickerson and Marlow considered tamer questions, such as, "What makes you material?" Eventually, Dickerson and Marlow stated, Welch encouraged Marlow to "spice up the questions". Marlow responded by asking, "What's one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?" Welch's reply, in a strong Southern accent was, "You gotta give 'em that 'hawk tuah' and spit on that ", referring to spitting on someone's penis as a form of fellatio, for lubricatory purposes. The next day, Marlow uploaded the clip to TikTok and almost immediately other accounts across social media began reposting the video after scrubbing off the "Tim and Dee TV"

watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations i ...

. Dickerson and Marlow estimated that they filed at least fifty copyright claims in the days after they first published the clip. The original video had gone viral, receiving millions of views across

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, and YouTube, spawning

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es and remakes of the original audio, and gaining Welch the nickname ''Hawk Tuah Girl''. The video and the phrase turned into a meme.

Popularity

Initially, Welch was mortified that her clip had gone so viral. "The first week of it, I was so embarrassed," Welch said. "I wouldn't come out of my house. I went to work, but that's about it. Other than that, I didn't go anywhere. But I went from being embarrassed to living in the moment." She had seen vendors selling unofficial regalia of her viral moment and decided to capitalize on the moment herself. She said "If everyone else is making money off of it, I might as well, too." Ultimately, Welch created an

account and soon gained a sizable

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

following and media attention. Dickerson and Marlow indicated they were happy for Welch but were upset for not receiving credit for Welch's fame. She quit her job at the bed spring factory on June 27, 2024, and partnered with a local apparel brand to begin selling Hawk Tuah merchandise, earning over $65,000 within a couple of weeks. On June 29, Welch joined

Zach Bryan Zachary Lane Bryan (born April 2, 1996) is an American country singer-songwriter and rock musician from Oologah, Oklahoma. After two self-produced studio albums—''DeAnn'' (2019) and '' Elisabeth'' (2020)—he signed with Warner Records to ...

on stage during his concert in Nashville, Tennessee, to perform Bryan's song "Revival". A few days later, Welch joined

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

during his DJ set in Nashville. On July 2, Welch signed for representation with The Penthouse. On August 15, she threw the

ceremonial first pitch The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to ...

of a

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

game, On December 11, she was featured on a comedic segment of the late-night television show ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...

'' In 2025, Welch announced an upcoming documentary, ''DocTuah'', about her rise to fame.

''Talk Tuah''

Welch premiered a podcast with Jake Paul's company Betr, ''Talk Tuah'', in on September 3, 2024. It has featured guests from the start; the first episode features comedian

. From there, the show has featured a guest on almost every episode, including rapper and singer-songwriter

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and actor. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he signed with the local independent label Rostrum Records to re ...

, business mogul

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American businessman and television personality. He is the former principal owner and current minority owner of the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and co-owner of 2929 Entertain ...

, and ''

Dance Moms ''Dance Moms'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Lifetime (TV network), Lifetime on July 13, 2011. Created by Collins Avenue Productions, the show followed the training and careers of children in dance and show business ...

'' star

JoJo Siwa Joelle Joanie "JoJo" Siwa ( ; born May 19, 2003) is an American singer, dancer, actress, and media personality. From 2015 to 2016, she appeared as a dancer on two seasons of the reality television show '' Dance Moms'' alongside her mother, Jess ...

. In September 2024, a fake screenshot of an

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

article went viral on

, claiming that former President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

had canceled a guest appearance on the podcast because of an assassination attempt in Florida. Since October 2024, a satirical self-described "companion podcast" titled "Talking Talk Tuah" has been posted weekly, in which hosts Cam George, the cameraman of Podcast But Outside, and Peter Ditzler review ''Talk Tuah'' and other events involving Haliey Welch. The podcast's creation has no association with Welch, though other guests have featured on the podcast, including

Brent Weinbach Brent Weinbach is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and pianist based in Los Angeles, California. He is known for his experimental style and abstract, deadpan delivery. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley an ...

. In November 2024, a fake screenshot of a

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

article went viral on

, claiming that more than 75,000 of the votes counted in the

2024 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 5, 2024. The Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's Ticket (election), ticket—Donald Trump, who was the 45th president of ...

were write-ins for "Hawk Tuah" and "Talk Tuah".

Other ventures

On November 14, Welch released a dating advice app, Pookie Tools. To build the app, Welch partnered with Ben Ganz, founder of Ultimate AI Studio, an AI automation platform.

Meme coin scandal

In December 2024, Welch released a

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency (colloquially crypto) is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. Individual coin ownership record ...

meme coin A meme coin (also spelled memecoin) is a cryptocurrency that originated from an internet meme or has some other humorous characteristic. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term shitcoin, which typically refers to a cryptocurren ...

on Solana called $HAWK token. The coin reached a market capitalization of nearly $500 million before plummeting to $25 million, with at least one investor filing a complaint with the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

. This led to Welch and her team being accused of performing a

pump-and-dump Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements (pump), in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price (dump). O ...

scheme and the coin being accused of being an

exit scam An exit scam or rug pull is a confidence trick or fraud, perpetuated under the guise of a legitimate business, that ends when the originator absconds with the funds contributed by participants. When a business entity ''pulls the rug'' and stops s ...

, including by cryptocurrency journalist

Coffeezilla Stephen Findeisen (born 1993 or 1994), better known as Coffeezilla, is an American YouTuber and cryptocurrency journalist who is known primarily for his channel in which he investigates and discusses online scams, usually surrounding cryptocurre ...

, who also accused Welch and her team of

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

. Welch's team has denied the accusations. Later that month, a lawsuit was filed against the $HAWK creators in the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five List of counties in New York, counties in ...

for unlawfully promoting and selling cryptocurrency that was allegedly never properly registered. Welch, who was not named in the suit, responded to the litigation, saying that she "take this situation extremely seriously" and pledging to be "fully cooperating with and am committed to assisting" the legal parties involved.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, Haliey 2000s births 21st-century people from Tennessee American Internet celebrities American TikTokers American women podcasters Living people People associated with cryptocurrency People from Marshall County, Tennessee