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It's been one year since "Hawk Tuah" girl made Haliey Welch a social media star - and a lot has happened to the 22-year-old in the past 12 months.
From her now-famous catchphrase to receiving strange requests, launching her own merch and podcast, and getting career advice from Shaq to her cryptocurrency controversy, Welch has experienced the highs and lows of being a viral content creator.
Here is everything you need to know about Welch, aka "Hawk Tuah" girl from her viral beginnings to her biggest controversy.
How did Welch become famous?
Welch first went viral when she was filmed in Nashville by street YouTubers TimandDeeTV in June last year, where she gave the iconic "hawk tuah" catchphrase to an NSFW question and shot to instant fame with the original clip, which received millions of views.
From there, Welch went on to become known as "Hawk Tuah" girl by the internet.
Has Welch celebrated the anniversary?
Yes, Welch took to Instagram to share her thoughts on the whirlwind of a year she has experienced since her infamous "Hawk Tuah" comment.
"A year already?! I got to experience some really incredible things this past year and none of it would’ve been possible without YOU. Thank you for all of your support! Excited to see what this next year has in store for us," she posted on Instagram, along with a video summing up her best moments from the past year.
What has Welch done since?
Since going viral, Welch made the most out of the moment by signing for representation with management firm The Penthouse, launching her own merchandise (a move praised by podcaster Joe Rogan), limited edition Halloween costume collaborations and her own podcast, the Talk Tuah Podcast which peaked at number five on the global Spotify podcast chats.
In April, she was announced to be starring in Glen Powell’s ‘Chad Powers’ TV series.
According to TMZ, Welch will appear as herself in a cameo during a club scene, where Powell is celebrating after being drafted into a major football league.
The official synopsis for the series reads: “When bad behaviour nukes hotshot QB Russ Holliday’s (Powell) college career, he disguises himself and walks onto a struggling Southern football team as the talented, affable Chad Powers”.
The first episode of the show will premiere on Hulu later this year on September 30, 2025.
She also launched her own cryptocurrency, which didn't exactly go well...
What has been Welch's biggest controversy?
Welch mostly disappeared from the internet at the end of 2024, after her cryptocurrency completely bombed, leaving a lot of fans upset, in what has been her biggest controversy since she shot to viral fame.
$HAWK token was publicised heavily and quickly rose to a $490 million market cap when launched on December 4, but it absolutely tanked within hours and lost around 95 per cent of its value.
It cost millions collectively to people who had bought the cryptocurrency.
It's understood $HAWK token was the victim of a 'rug pull', where snipers who buy the asset where it's cheaper and instantly sell it where it's more expensive end up making a huge profit, according to CoinMarketCap.
A lawsuit has been filed accusing overHere, its founder Clinton So, social media influencer Alex Larson Schultz and the Tuah The Moon Foundation (which is understood to have overseen the finances of the meme coin) of unlawfully promoting and selling cryptocurrency that was allegedly never properly registered.
OverHere, the platform for $HAWK token, said: "We believed in that vision so much that pushed harder and harder, perhaps through rose-tinted glasses and naivety about others' intentions, even as the project began to unravel."
OverHere went on to say someone who is known as Doc Hollywood "controlled all decisions, fees, treasury" and he charged "15 per cent trading fees (none to overHere), [was] silent during market chaos and ignored calls for transparency".
International Business Times (IBT) reported Schultz, a team member nicknamed Doc Hollywood, denied the allegations.
Has Welch commented on this?
Welch appeared on Voidzilla’s X Spaces stream following all of the fallout from her cryptocurrency scandal and Voidzilla asked Welch questions about the situation. But in response Welch abruptly ended the call and that's when she signed off with the viral soundbite: "Anyhoo, I’m going to go to bed, and I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Welch then took to X / Twitter on December 20 and said: "I take this situation extremely seriously and want to address my fans, the investors who have been affected and the broader community.
"I am fully co-operating with and am committed to assisting the legal team representing the individuals impacted, as well as to help uncover the truth, hold the responsible parties accountable and resolve this matter."
The 22-year-old quietened her presence during this time while the investigation was ongoing. Welch was later seen in tears during an episode of her podcast which leaked online in early February, and it would seem she's ready to talk about the ordeal for the first time.
In the episode, she was joined by FaZe Clan’s founder, Banks, who comforts her as she breaks down in tears over the ordeal.
However, the episode was soon deleted, and Banks hit out at Welch's team on X, raising suspicions about how the now-deleted podcast made it online when he hadn't green-lit it (Welch later spoke about the fallout on her May 20 podcast).
Welch returned to social media at the end of March with a comedic Instagram skit featuring pregnancy speculation, death rumours, and her being in prison.
The clip shows Welch asleep, seemingly having nightmares about the social media speculation and in the caption she asked, "What'd I miss?"
Since then, Welch has spoken about the controversy in another Talk Tuah podcast episode posted on May 20, where the creator claims she was investigated by the FBI and the SEC and cleared of any wrongdoing on the matter.
"They interrogated me, asking me questions and everything else related to crypto, [about] all the people in my phone I've talked to about crypto," Welch said. "So they cleared me. I was good to go. And then the SEC picked it up."
Last month, Welch reflected on explosive cryptocurrency fallout in an interview with Vanity Fair.
Welch was asked about the crash that resulted in a lawsuit against its creators. "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."
In the three months she was gone, she says she dedicated her time to looking after her dog.
"I see things a lot differently than I used to," she said, warning other creators to "be careful" who they "trust". "My eyes are open a lot wider."
Elsewhere, Joe Rogan shares unsympathetic take on disastrous Hawk Tuah meme coin, and Hawk Tuah Girl has a new catchphrase that is going viral.
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