The ‘Hawk Tuah’ girl has finally explained what happened when the controversial cryptocurrency scandal ‘cleaned out people’s savings’.
I know right, remember her? I almost can’t believe she’s back either.
It’s nearly been a year since the original ‘hawk tuah’ video went viral after Haliey Welch made her ‘spit on that thang’ comment in a street interview.
And that one little clip saw her rack up so much publicity she ended up having merch and quit her job before starting up the podcast Talk Tuah with Haliey Welch.
But it also led to her branching out into crypto, with the coin named ‘$HAWK token‘.
This didn’t end too well though as the starting sky-high value plummeted with a reported flop of over 90 percent, meaning those who had invested collectively lost millions.
I know you haven’t forgot her. (YouTube/Tim & Dee TV)
Welch only actually fronted the $HAWK token and wasn’t named as a defendant in the lawsuits against the coin’s creators as accusations were made of unlawfully promoting and selling cryptocurrency.
It did see a lot of backlash though and one user wrote online: “I am a huge fan of Hawk Tuah but you took my life savings.”
Now opening up further about the mess in an interview with Vanity Fair, Welch said she ‘hates’ that it’s ‘even a thing’.
“Half of those people that done it were, like, my fans,” she explained.
“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.”
At the end of March, the US Securities and Exchange Commission closed an investigation into the viral star, finding ‘no evidence’ against Welch.
When it all kicked off, she pretty much disappeared and spent time being a ‘24/7 dog mom’ and having a ‘mental health break’ at home in Tennessee.
She became a viral star. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
Having returned to social media just before the investigation closed, Welch admitted it’s been ‘a little bit of a struggle’ being back in the spotlight.
“But I feel like rebuilding is what I needed to do.”
The 22-year-old admitted she doesn’t ‘really understand’ crypto much and it was ‘one of those things that just happened’.
“You got to be really careful what you tie your name to, and you definitely need to know what you’re getting yourself into when you agree to do it,” she added. “That’s something I definitely should have done beforehand.”
While her mental health ‘didn’t get as bad’ following the scandal as when the hawk tuah interview ‘got leaked’, she does ‘feel really bad’ and ‘really sorry’ for those who lost money in the scandal.
When it all kicked off, Welch went of the grid and what she did during that time was pretty simple: “I would see my friends. I would go out and eat. That’s really about it. I don’t ever get out and do much when I’m home. I like being by myself.”