Who is the 'Hawk Tuah' girl, and what does it mean?

Hawk Tuah Girl became a breakout internet star over the summer, and her viral origin story is all too common in the digital age. It started with one of those man-on-the-street interviews designed to go viral. The questions were sexual in nature, and that, combined with the setting (a.k.a. the party scene in Nashville), was a recipe for success.

In case you somehow, some way missed it, Hawk Tuah Girl — real name Haliey Welch—first surfaced in a Tim & Dee TV video. She was asked, "What's one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?"

In a Southern accent, she answers, with enthusiasm and in a ridiculous way: "Aw, you gotta give 'em that 'hawk TUAH' and spit on that thang! You get me?" She says this while miming, well, spitting on that...thang...in the form of a microphone angled toward her.

This clip, in turn, went wildly viral on TikTok with videos featuring the moment, reacting to it, or updating folks on it, gaining millions and millions of views. Of course, not everything was peachy for Welch upon her newfound fame. It's not always a smooth process becoming a viral star. As the internet is wont to do, people began digging and starting random rumors.

Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

SEE ALSO: 'Hawk Tuah' girl Haliey Welch has disappeared from public view after crypto rug pull

Chief among them? That Welch was a teacher and fired for the viral clip. That started with a parody account that fooled people online. Now, months later, the world knows quite a bit about the real Welch. And against all odds, she has become something of a household name.

And while Welch initially seemed a bit hesitant to cash in on the viral moment, she quickly reversed that course — perhaps to a fault. Welch began by selling merchandise, which is a pretty foolproof way to pull in money as an influencer. She's worked with a local Tennessee company called Fathead Threads to sell merchandise capitalizing on all the Hawk Tuah virality. Among the items: a "Hawk Tuah 2024" trucker hat, graphic tees, and New Jersey-Boardwalk-esque shirts making crude Hawk Tuah jokes.

Soon enough Welch expanded into another space lucrative for influencers: podcasting. Her pod, aptly named Talk Tuah, actually did pretty well on the charts and on YouTube. But then what was once a feel good story — turning a potentially embarrassing moment into a well-paying career — went south.

---

Related Stories

---

• TikTok video sparks conversation about inflation
• TikTok says U.S. ban violates the First Amendment right to free speech
• The best TikTok food trends of 2024
• YouTube news livestreams you can watch for free right now
• TikTok introduces AI-generated digital avatars

SEE ALSO: Haliey Welch releases first statement after going MIA following 'Hawk Tuah' crypto crash

As Mashable's Matt Binder covered in detail, this month Welch launched a crypto memecoin called $HAWK, which rocketed in value before plummeting, perhaps leaving her fans in a financial hole. She, and the team behind the coin, have been accused of a rug pull, which is effectively ballooning a coin's value in an effort to cash out at other folks' expense. It didn't help that Welch logged-off a public Spaces stream on X about $Hawk in a frankly cartoonish manner. She's not surfaced in public since that moment on Dec. 5.

Tweet may have been deleted

The lesson seems that as quickly as the internet can build you up, it can bring you down — though it stands to reason Welch's bank account still has far more zeroes than it did that night of the fateful interview.