From Viral Fame to Crypto Shame: The Haliey Welch $HAWK Saga

The phrase “Hawk Tuah” went viral after a street interview where Haliey Welch was asked, “What's one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?” Without hesitation, she shouted, “You gotta give 'em that ‘hawk tuah' and spit on that thang.”

The unexpected response sent viewers into fits of laughter, and the clip spread across social media, turning Welch into an internet sensation. The phrase has since become a staple in memes, videos, and even merchandise.

The HAWK token skyrocketed to a market capitalization of $490 million before plummeting by 95% in a matter of days. The sudden crash sparked accusations of a Pump & Dump scheme, raising concerns not just among fans but also regulators.

After the fallout, Welch vanished from the spotlight for three months. She stopped posting on social media, skipped public events, and made no appearances on talk shows. Recently, she reemerged when a leaked podcast episode revealed new details about the launch of her meme coin on the Solana blockchain.

Leaked Podcast Brings Hawk Tuah Girl Back Into the Spotlight

On February 6, 2025, a new episode of Haliey Welch’s podcast, Talk Tuah, appeared online—her first public appearance in two months. Although the episode was quickly removed from her YouTube channel without explanation, clips of the conversation have already begun spreading across social media.

The podcast featured Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengtson (founder of FaZe Clan), Rohun “Frank” Vora (creator of the NFT projects DeGods and y00ts), and content creator Threadguy. They discussed the challenges Welch faced while launching her meme coin and how the situation unfolded.

Welch explained that she initially agreed to launch the meme coin but later discovered that 80% of the supply was controlled by the partner managing the token’s release. This concentration of ownership led to a market crash, sparking backlash and prompting her to step away from the public eye for several months.

Related: Hawk Tuah Missing After HAWK Token’s Collapse Sparks Allegations

She faced accusations of orchestrating a rug pull and engaging in insider manipulation. Her last public appearance was on X Spaces, where she signed off with, “I'll see you guys tomorrow,” before vanishing completely.

Since then, Welch has remained silent on X, Instagram, and TikTok. Her absence was finally broken with the release of her latest podcast episode.

FaZe Banks Takes Another Shot at Hawk Tuah Girl’s Team

FaZe Clan co-founder Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengtson was one of the first to criticize Haliey Welch’s team following the HAWK token’s disastrous launch. In a heated discussion on X, he called the token a scam, claiming it was completely mismanaged from the start.

Now, Banks has once again spoken out against Welch’s team.

On February 6, 2025, he revealed that he was supposed to be a guest on Welch’s comeback episode. However, his participation depended on a set of strict conditions that he laid out before agreeing to appear.

His conditions included:

• Ensuring the episode’s existence remained confidential to prevent market manipulation.
• A concrete plan from Welch’s team on how to handle the money she made from HAWK, including where the funds should go and how the project should move forward.

Welch’s team had assured Banks that the podcast episode would not be released without his approval. However, that promise was broken when the episode was mysteriously leaked, causing HAWK’s price to spike by 260% in just one hour.

Banks believes Welch’s team either cashed out the token or engaged in insider trading. His suspicions grew when he started receiving messages on X asking about the upcoming podcast. He remains convinced that Welch’s team was far less reliable than they claimed, completely mismanaging the project.

Banks ended his post with a direct message to Welch, once again urging her to fire the entire team behind HAWK. So far, Welch has not made any public statements about the leak or uploaded the episode to her YouTube channel.

Coffeezilla Calls Out Hawk Tuah Girl: He Was Supposed to Be a Guest on the Podcast

Crypto investigator Coffeezilla addressed the leaked Hawk Tuah Girl podcast in a new video on his YouTube channel, voidzilla. He shared details of his conversations with Haliey Welch’s attorney and gave his take on the situation.

During the podcast, Welch called Coffeezilla a “scary guy” that no one wants to talk to. Seeing the irony in her statement, Coffeezilla responded with a video titled “hawk tuah is back,” where he shared his side of the story and his interactions with Welch’s team.

According to Coffeezilla, Haliey Welch’s attorney personally invited him to be a guest on her podcast. The lawyer emphasized how much Welch wanted him on the show and assured him that she had a positive opinion of him. 

The message read:

Haliey would like to have you as a guest on her podcast. You would be her first guest since the failed token launch, and it would get a significant amount of views. Would be very friendly. She really likes you…

Coffeezilla made it clear that he wasn’t interested unless he received more answers about the token’s failed launch. Since no explanation was provided, he ultimately declined the invitation.