The ‘Hawk Tuah girl’ is a stark example of the dangers posed by the ‘content creator world’ where anyone is just a moment away from going viral, experts warned today.
Haliey Welch was filmed on a Nashville street last month by content creators Tim & Dee TV who asked: ‘What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?’
She answered: ‘You gotta give ’em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang’ – and the clip has now been viewed three million times on YouTube in just a fortnight.
Miss Welch, 21, initially isolated herself in rural Tennessee where she lives with her family, as relatives tried to build a wall around her to shield her from the publicity.
But she has now quit her job at a spring factory, co-launched a merchandise range and employed a manager as she attempts to cash in on her unexpected fame.
After being hailed the ‘queen of the internet’, Miss Welch also revealed she had received ‘revolting’ offers’ from fans with one offering $600 (£480) to spit in a jar.
PR expert Andy Barr, chief executive of the agency 10 Yetis, told MailOnline that the ‘Hawk Tuah girl’ situation is a classic example of how ‘we all live in a content creator world and this is something everyone now needs to remember and be cautious of’.
Haliey Welch was filmed on a Nashville street last month by content creators Tim & Dee TV who asked: ‘What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?’ She answered: ‘You gotta give ’em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang’ – and the clip has since gone viral
The Tim & Dee TV clip has now been viewed three million times on YouTube in just a fortnight
Haliey Welch was dubbed the ‘Hawk Tuah girl’ and the ‘queen of the internet’ over the video
He continued: ‘Social media-based ‘journalism’ is creating new internet celebrities every single day and it reinforces the importance of people thinking a little more before they speak.
‘You now need to channel your inner PR person and think about if what you are saying is something that you want following you around for the majority, if not all, of your life.’
He added that Miss Welch was ‘amazingly funny’ and a ‘prime example’ of this, where she now has ‘Hollywood talent agencies and merchandising brands queuing up to get her signed because of that one single phrase’.
But Mr Barr continued: ‘In her recent interviews she rather naively says that she doesn’t want to be known for life as the ‘Hawk Tuah Girl’, but that has now stuck and she will struggle to shake the nickname.
‘Individuals now need to think like a Hollywood A-lister or big brand in their every interaction with a camera-wielding content creator.
‘If they don’t, they do risk being known globally for something they may regret and facing the kind of sinister scrutiny and intrusion into their life that they may not be ready for.’
Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told MailOnline that the case of Miss Welch was an example of how the ‘speed that someone can go from zero to celebrity is lightning fast now due to social media and uploading content from your phone’.
He said moments quickly viral and then become memes due to there being so many platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and X which have ‘created social media celebrities in a split second’.
Mr Ede continued: ‘The issue with this can be that the people who have become instant smashes have no one around them to sense-check what they say, no one around them to help with their consent to use their image etc and no one has warned them that this may happen.
‘These moments are off the cuff but they can have terrible implications post posting, whether it’s Hawk Tuah girl and people pretending to be her, or stars who get fired because of their behaviour captured for the world to see.
‘The dangers of social media are out there and someone’s innocent fun night out can make their lives a living nightmare. Celebrity and infamy are part of our everyday life but if you are not prepared for it, it can cause lots of issues, from family feuds to money making fraud.
Haliey Welch (right) sat down with Brianna LaPaglia on the Plan Bri Uncut podcast yesterday
Haliey Welch spoke about her experiences yesterday on the Plan Bri Uncut podcastÂ
Haliey Welch appears with Chelsea Bradford (right), who was identified as her friend in the clip
Jason Poteete of Fathead Threads, with whom Haliey Welch has partnered to sell merchandiseÂ
Since going viral Haliey Welch has partnered with Jason Poteete, owner of Tennessee-based apparel firm Fathead Threads, to release hats saying: ‘Hawk Tuah ’24 – Spit On That Thang.Â
Haliey Welch has been signing the hats but said one fan offered $600 for her to spit in a jarÂ
‘It’s all there for the world to see and many stars have been exposed as the spotlight shines on them.’
He cited Sam and Nia Rader, a Christian couple who rose to fame with their online videos before Sam was exposed in the 2015 hack of Ashley Madison, the dating site for people seeking adulterous affairs. The couple have since featured in the Netflix documentary ‘Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Scandal’.
Mr Ede said: ‘This kind of instant fame can bring in a lot of money but unless you are savvy and have a good management it can go as quickly as it came and you will live your life endlessly known for being a meme and that can ultimately be very damaging for you.
‘Like in the early days of Big Brother when the stars didn’t understand their instant fame, there is a lot of money to be made and people have to be careful who they trust when pursuing stardom for money.
‘Ultimately celebrity now is so fast and furious that there is only a golden window for these types of stars as there’s another viral moment coming up to bite them each and every day – so they either have to capitalise on it, stay relevant or just go back into obscurity and get on with their everyday lives.’
Another PR expert Sean O’Meara, managing director of Manchester-based agency Essential Content, told MailOnline that ‘everyone and everything has the potential to become viral content nowadays’.
He said: ‘There’s a fun side to it, where the subject is consenting and – even better – gets to make a few quid out of their 15 minutes like Haliey.Â
‘But there’s a major, and underappreciated downside to the content culture we’re all participating in.
‘As a society, we appear to have completely forgotten what privacy means. It comes down to consent. Haliey was up for it, said something funny, and is now having a surreal brush with fame.
‘Not everyone – and I very much include myself in this camp – wants to be part of it. But we don’t always have the choice.’
He pointed out that some people ‘have been filmed without consent in their most troubled and darkest moments and had their lives ruined’.
Mr O’Meara cited the case of Maureen Bowcock, a mother battling depression who was found dead at home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, in 2018 three weeks after a video posted online showed her arguing with her boyfriend on a bus.
An inquest later heard the 40-year-old had started drinking heavily after the clip went viral because of her concerns over the potential impact on her four children.
Mr O’Meara continued: ‘Of course, some people bring it on themselves by volunteering information or opinions on social media or by acting outrageously in public.’
He pointed out that musician John Roderick, better known as ‘Bean dad’, was a good example of the former after his tweet thread about refusing to help his daughter open a can of beans ‘essentially ruined his life’.
Mr O’Meara said: ‘I have some sympathy, but I also think when you share everything on social media, you need to be prepared for the discomfort of people judging you for being weird.’
Haliey Welch spoke to Brianna LaPaglia after joining the podcaster’s boyfriend, country singer Zach Bryan (pictured), on stage at a concert at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TennesseeÂ
Shaquille O’Neal has been spotted alongside the new internet sensation ‘Hawk Tuah’ girl
Chelsea Bradford (left) has been identified as the friend standing next to Miss Welch in the clip
He added: ‘While it’s not illegal to film someone in public, I do think a lot of the content that gets shared stems from incidents that could be described as harassment.’
Speaking about his own experiences, he said: ‘I once challenged someone on a train for filming a man who’d fallen asleep. That person then spent the next five minutes filming me, which was extremely uncomfortable.
‘My overriding thought in that moment was ‘don’t do or say anything you wouldn’t want a magistrate to hear about’. In that moment, I was glad I work in public relations, because I understood the consequences of reacting.
‘It’s a sad state of affairs, but my approach when out and about is always to assume someone could be filming.’
Jack Izzard, chief executive of Rhizome Media Group, also spoke about the ‘Hawk Tuah’ craze.
He told MailOnline: ‘Where once it was only celebrities who lived in fear of having their every indiscretion captured by the paparazzi, these days all of us are just one silly comment or pratfall away from becoming a meme.
‘While Gen Xs can count themselves lucky that smartphones weren’t around when they were younger and sillier, the prospect of sudden, unwanted fame is real for digital natives who’ve grown up knowing that everything they do could potentially be recorded and sent around the world in minutes.
‘Those who find themselves at the eye of a social media storm typically go into hiding until it all blows over, or embrace their surprise fame and try to turn it to their advantage. Haliey Welch, who until recently was working in a factory in rural Tennessee, has done both.’
He added that feeling like a laughing stock can cause ‘crushing embarrassment and even shame’, so Miss Welch had done the right thing by ‘taking control of the narrative and doing a media interview on her terms’.
Mr Izzard also said: ‘Viral fame – whether it’s welcome or unwelcome – rarely lasts, and her decision to lean into it is a bold and potentially lucrative one.’
Miss Welch talked about her experiences for the first time yesterday as she spoke to podcaster Brianna LaPaglia on her Barstool Sports show Plan Bri Uncut.
When asked what her parents thought of the comment, Miss Welch replied: ‘They think it’s so funny… they never know what’s gonna come out of my mouth.’
Since going viral Miss Welch has partnered with Jason Poteete, owner of a Tennessee-based apparel company called Fathead Threads, to release hats saying: ‘Hawk Tuah ’24 – Spit On That Thang.’
And she said: ‘So, the guy that does my hats, he got offered $600 three days ago for me to spit in a jar and sell it. That is revolting! That is just disgusting, is it not?’
She also expressed her frustration at social media users ‘spelling my name wrong’ – which is ‘Haliey’, not ‘Hailey’ – and making accounts with her photos on.
Miss Welch insisted she deleted all of her social media six months ago for personal reasons – long before becoming an internet sensation.
She added: ‘It’s kind of creepy seeing your face on another account that don’t belong to you.’
Hundreds of memes followed, the phrase was yelled out by a fan as 2024Â US Open golf champion Bryson DeChambeau hit a tee shot at the LIV event in Nashville.
A photograph posted on Instagram of Haliey Welch meeting one of her fans in Nashville
Another photo of Haliey Welch meeting one of her fans following her overnight rise to fame
Gymnast Olivia Dunne, basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal and mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor are also among those to have got involved with the craze.
Miss Welch joined LaPaglia, also known as ‘Brianna Chickenfry,’ after sharing the stage with LaPaglia’s country singer boyfriend Zach Bryan at the Nashville Nissan Stadium.
In the wide-ranging interview, Miss Welch confirmed she had been out drinking that evening but that her vulgar comment was intended as a joke and that she ‘didn’t mean anything by it’.
She also explained that she never expected to see the clip again after it was filmed.
Miss Welch said: ‘I think he posted the full video on YouTube this past Sunday but he only told us he was a YouTuber, he never said anything about you know Instagram, TikTok, nothing of the sort. So I was like ‘oh well I’m never going to see this again but sure enough I seen it again.’
She described her surprise at seeing the video had got a million views but added she assumed it would not ‘get any bigger’ than that.
A New Orleans paper also went viral for making a hilarious reference to the ‘Hawk Tuah’ craze
‘Then I go back like an hour later and the views done went up like a million and I was like ‘Oh my God, there is no way that just happened,’ Miss Welch added.Â
LaPaglia then asked Miss Welch how she felt about being known as the ‘Hawk Tuah girl’, something Miss Welch said she does not want to be called for the rest of her life.Â
Miss Welch also debunked rumuors about where she and her family worked – including that she was a school teacher who was then fired after the video came out, and her father was a preacher.
She said: ‘I worked in a spring factory, I’m not a schoolteacher. My father is so far from a preacher, it’s crazy.’
Miss Welch said that after she became famous she quit her job and now plans on travelling to ‘be on a show and be on a bunch of podcasts and everything else in between.’
‘There’s more to come, don’t worry,’ she added. She also said: ‘The people that are out here hatin’, I don’t even know ’em. So, what the f**k do I care?’