I have lived 80 billion lives since Hailey Welch, aka the Hawk Tuah Girl, went viral and hit the internet – which was one year ago this week. It honestly feels like she’s been ubiquitous for at least five years – especially since the entire viral saga has such a mid 2010s feel to it rather than something that happened in 2024. The last year has been monuments for Hailey Welch, not just because it took Hawk Tuah to a global phenomenon but because it also became lucrative for her as she became a household name and launched the Talk Tuah podcast. But it has not been a year of plain sailing – and some immense backlash, controversy and scandal resulted in Hailey Welch and the Hawk Tuah behemoth going completely awol from social media and vanishing for months. Now she’s returned to social media and addressed the drama, here’s everything that went down with Hailey Welch and her Hawk Tuah internet return in the one year anniversary of her massive rise to fame.
Hawk Tuah
Hailey Welch, now better known as “Hawk Tuah Girl, became the breakout viral star of 2024 with a single, absurd soundbite. Filmed during a random street interview, her response to what makes men finish quickly – “you gotta give ‘em that hawk tuahh and spit on it” – was delivered with such blunt confidence and Southern drawl that TikTok latched on almost instantly. The clip spread like wildfire, racking up millions of views, sound remixes, and merch drops, turning what was essentially a crude throwaway line into yet another internet phenomenon.
The internet, true to form, went into full sleuth mode, scrambling to uncover her identity like she was some kind of lost cultural artifact. Welch, who had no apparent online presence at the time, stayed quiet as the meme spiraled. That didn’t last long though, and she launched her podcast. But that entire launch went tits up when the cryptocurrency saga started.
Huge backlash erupted
Hailey made a swift exit from the internet following the collapse of her $HAWK cryptocurrency venture. In December 2024, Welch launched the meme coin, which initially soared to a $490 million market cap before plummeting over 90% within hours. This dramatic crash led to accusations of a “pump and dump” scheme, with some investors alleging insider trading and deceptive practices. Welch, who had no prior experience in cryptocurrency, admitted she was misled into promoting the coin and received a marketing fee but did not profit from its performance.
In the aftermath, Welch faced significant backlash, including threats and harassment. The FBI and SEC investigated the incident, but Welch was cleared of any wrongdoing. Despite not being legally implicated, she chose to halt her podcast and social media presence to address the situation. After a hiatus, Welch returned to the public eye in April 2025, relaunching her podcast and distancing herself from the controversial project. She is also set to be featured in a documentary exploring her rise to fame and the challenges she faced.
She’s returned to the internet, and spoke out about the drama
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Now Hailey Welch has spoke about her Hawk Tuah internet return, after so long away. In an interview with Vanity Fair, she spoke about the lawsuit and what she was doing when she was away from the public eye.
“I hate that that’s even a thing,” she said. “Half of those people that done it were, like, my fans. They trusted me, like, guiding them to it. And I don’t know … It really hurt my feelings when it turned out the way it did. I wish it hadn’t have happened.
“I see things a lot differently than I used to. My eyes are open a lot wider.” She also warned creators to be more careful about who they trust.
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