How do you get over a breakup? How many do you have on your roster? Leave a message to your last body. What makes you wifey material? Answer a question like this to the right person at the right time, in a catchy enough way, and you too could have people get tattoos of your face, or get to sing on stage with enormous country music stars.
On June 11th, 2024, YouTubers Tim and Dee TV posted a video to their Instagram and TikTok, in which they asked two young women, Chelsea Bradford and Hailey Welch, “What’s one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?”
Haliey’s response? “You gotta give him that hawk tuah and spit on that thang!”
It was part of a longer video in which they went around downtown Nashville Tennessee asking women similar questions. In under a week, the Instagram video, which was published before the long version even premiered on YouTube, had reached nearly 9 million plays, and the TikTok over half a million.
It was certainly the most viral usage of the term “hawk tuah,” but Hailey didn’t come up with it herself. Minorly popular uses of “hawk tuah” as a euphemism for spitting go back to 2021 on Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok.
In any case, this particular instance was an instant hit—mostly on TikTok but also on Twitter and Instagram. Users created meme versions of the original video, using a cutout of Hayley, about seemingly anything.
One TikToker, TJ Teague, posted a reaction which went viral all on its own, in which he says, “If she dont ‘hawk tuah’ i don’t talk tuah.”
Hailey was quick to capitalize on her moment of fame.
On June 19th, she was seen posing with the owner of Fathead Threads, a Tennessee-based merch store, and signing Hawk Tuah apparel. On June 26th, just two weeks after the original post it was reported that she had signed for talent representation at The Penthouse.
By that time, it was estimated that Hailey had sold almost $65,000 in Hawk Tuah merch. She’s also filed trademarks for her own line of condiments, “Hawk Sauce,” as well as a sports gambling service “Bet on that thang.”
But it hasn’t all been fun and games for the TikTok star.
A rumor started on Facebook that she lost her job as a preschool teacher, but it was quickly debunked because sketchy details aside, the poster’s banner photo literally says that it’s a satirical publication.
Other rumors abounded that she’s part of some CIA psy-op—also almost definitely not true.
She appeared at Cullman Alabama’s Rock the South music festival—to crickets—and she’s had to resort to hiring bodyguards because she now experiences so much sexual harassment on the street that she can’t go out in public by herself. Also, she’s afraid of being kidnapped.
Despite all of this it seems like Hailey is ready to milk Hawk Tuah for all its worth. She’s been catapulted into stardom pretty much by accident, but she’ll stay there as long as there are those people around who still want to talk tuah.
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