Hawk Tuah Girl's Comeback? TikTok Star Haliey Welch Lands Disney+ Role After Crypto Controversy

The first episode of Disney+'s Chad Powers aired on Tuesday, and only minutes into the episode, internet sensation Hawk Tuah Girl Haliey Welch made a surprised appearance.

The series is about quarterback Russ Holliday, portrayed by Glen Powell, whose career fell apart, leading him to resort to facial prosthetics years later and attempt to join a struggling southern football team as Chad Powers to revive his career.

At the beginning of the episode, Chad is seen hitting a nightclub with his manager, where he crosses paths with Welch. Upon spotting her in the club, Chad said, 'The f*****g Hawk Tuah Girl is here!', to which she retorted sternly. Soon after, he is dropped by a football team and abandoned by his manager and the crew at the club. Haliey also walks off after telling Chad not to tell people they met.

Haliey rose to fame in early 2024 after a TikTok video where she coined the phrase 'hawk tuah' while sharing relationship advice went viral overnight. She leveraged her newfound popularity to start the Talk Tuah podcast, launch an AI dating app, and merchandise.

However, she faced massive criticism after the botched launch of the HAWK cryptocurrency. Mounting public outcry after investors lost significant money led to several court cases and the involvement of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Welch also ghosted social media for months, fueling further speculations about her involvement in the crypto scam.

She pitched the HAWK crypto as a community reward for her fan base, encouraging her followers to invest. Upon launch, the coin's value declined sharply, resulting in investor losses, with many claiming to have lost their entire life savings.

Reports also emerged that insiders manipulated 90% of the HAWK token supply. Bubblemaps CEO Nicolas Vaiman said that the HAWK team orchestrated a 'one-day pump and dump' to net $3.3 million (£2.4 million) in profits. Moreover, 17% of the token supply was set aside for over 280 early investors, most of whom dumped their holdings soon after the token was launched. The HAWK team also reportedly earned nearly $2 million (£1.4 million) in fees from the exchange.

According to a lawsuit filed in the first US District Court in New York against the whole crypto team and business partners, investors collectively lost around $151,000 (£112,008). After months of investigation by the SEC, the regulator closed the case without making any findings against Haliey. The SEC also did not seek any monetary sanctions against her.

Soon after, Welch admitted she didn't understand that the crypto episode would cause such financial distress to her fans. She said it 'makes me throw up' that her fans trusted her to have lent her likeness to a meme coin she didn't fully comprehend. Around that time, sources said that she was looking to move on and was planning a documentary as a comeback.

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