Viral sensation Haliey Welch, higher often called “Hawk Tuah Lady,” resurfaced this week with the revival of her Speak Tuah podcast, marking the first episode since December 2024.
“It’s been a sizzling minute since we’ve been again right here,” Welch stated.
Welch has been mendacity low for the reason that launch and fast implosion of a meme token bearing her nickname.
The December launch of the Solana-based HAWK, which she promoted, soared to a $490 million market cap earlier than plummeting 93% in minutes.
“Welch has determined to half methods with the mission hooked up to the meme coin $HAWK,” a spokesperson advised Decrypt. “Welch and Memetic Labs LLC have mutually agreed to this separation, and she is going to not be concerned with the help or advertising of the coin.”
The collapse triggered widespread backlash and led Welch to deactivate her social media accounts briefly. A February podcast episode was quietly printed and simply as shortly deleted.
Her first visitor since her comeback was YouTuber KSI, actual identify Olajide Olayinka Williams Olatunji, who, like Welch, has a historical past of crypto controversies.
Although neither immediately referenced crypto, each alluded to their turbulent experiences within the public eye.
“I’ve been right here for thus lengthy I’ve had my ups and my downs and my dooooooowns,” Olatunji stated. “You’ve simply acquired to roll with the punches and simply keep constant… On this [influencer] trade, individuals are going to make use of and abuse you,”
“I discovered that out the exhausting approach,” Welch agreed.
Olatunji additionally remarked that there would at all times be haters. “It’s simply noise,” he stated.
That “noise” consists of allegations courting again to 2021 that Olatunji promoted crypto tasks like XCAD Community and Ethernity Chain to his followers solely to allegedly dump tokens shortly after. He has beforehand denied this.
Welch, in the meantime, continues to be coping with the aftermath of her personal crypto fiasco. Whereas she publicly acknowledged cooperating in a civil swimsuit concentrating on the coin’s creators, it was just lately revealed that she had additionally been beneath investigation by the Securities and Change Fee. That investigation has since been closed.
Nonetheless, authorized scrutiny of the HAWK token continues. The continuing civil lawsuit targets crypto launchpad overHERE, its founder Clinton So, influencer Alex “Doc Hollywood” Schultz, and the Tuah the Moon Basis. Welch just isn’t named as a defendant within the case.
Olatunji has been approached for remark.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
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