Haliey Welch Interview (Hawk Tuah)

So the day that the coin launched,

My Hoth meme coin is live!

I actually had, I think two podcasts that day. We were in California when it happened. And the guy that was in the room with us, the one that was like operating the coin, we noticed he was like pacing around everywhere,

like nervous. And I was like, is that normal? Like, why is he acting like that? Cause you know, I'm doing podcasts. I'm not controlling the coin, but after all that and we finished all the podcasts,

everybody just kind of went out of the room and they looked concerned and I was like, what is going on? Like, I don't understand what's happening. They're like, oh, nothing. You ain't got to worry about it.

I pull up my TikTok and the next thing I know, What did I do? Why am I going to jail, you know? It's done every single day. Like it's normal at this point. Like normalize it, you know?

What?

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at www.channel5.news. All right, back to Hailey.

Thank you so much for making the time.

Well, of course, thank you for having me.

I'm Hailey Welch, and I guess I'm an influencer. Your story to me is one of the most fascinating in human history. You think so? Yeah, I think if a caveman were to time travel from the past and I had 30 minutes to explain humanity and the recent zeitgeist and how things have gone, I would explain your two to three year timeline.

Would you really? Definitely.

What do you think you would say?

I mean, I would start with the first interview itself. Not the contents of the interview, but you're just someone out with your friend for a night of partying, and then within two days, you're on everyone's phone in the entire country.

Yeah, it's kind of scary if you think about it that way.

Yeah, what were you doing out that night?

We were at CMA Fest and we were drinking.

How do you get over a breakup?

Get drunk.

Smoke a weed.

Like we're doing right now.

And had you done a street interview before that?

No. That was the first time. Wrong place, wrong time. That's all that was.

So you kind of regret doing it?

Not really regret doing it. At first I did because I was embarrassed but after that I'm like, okay, everything happens

for a reason. It's got good stuff with it and it's got bad stuff at the same time Just like anything as somebody who did a lot of interviews like in New Orleans like party interviews early on in my career Now I see on almost every street corner you have like two or three interviewers like in major college towns like in Scottsdale Or in on any college campus really at the main bars You have like two or three people trying to have a moment similar to the interviewer that captured yours What do you think about the ethics of that kind of street interview?

I really hope that there's not any more interviews kind of like the one I got, because now that I think about it and I'm like sober, it's just, it's kind of disrespectful to women, like the stuff he was asking. But you know, that's just how the world works nowadays.

In what sense was it disrespectful?

Just the questions he would ask what's one move in a bedroom that make a man go crazy every time

They you do and then after you go to his account and see all the stuff He asked other women like I think I got off easy compared to some of the stuff. He's asked other women. I was like, oh This nasty questions like that, so after he released like first video, I was like, oh, that's it. He don't have anything else to post. Boy, was I wrong. There was like four or five different videos after that, just cutouts of this one interview.

And I was like, oh my god, did I say all that? The only way to get over one is get under another. like when you talk to someone that it's gonna go online? No, he told us when we met him that he was a YouTuber and we were like, oh, I didn't think nobody still watches YouTube, because you know, you got TikTok, you got Instagram Reels, Snapchat. I was like, he ain't gonna do nothing with it.

Yeah. I was wrong.

So what does it feel like to be in those shoes when that's happening?

It's very overwhelming. It was at first. And then after I got in the gist everything and I got a team together, I was like, okay, I was like, I think I can do this. But like those first two weeks before like anything progressed to that part, it was awful, horrible.

In what sense?

Just embarrassed, really. And then we tried to get him to stop like posting more videos, he wouldn't do that. So I mean they just all came out there. So there wasn't nothing I could do about it. And I was like, well, you know what, the worst one's over. As soon as I said that, here comes another one that was so much worse. And I was like, oh no. I forgive and I forget. But at first, like I absolutely would not forgive him because we even asked him, we were like, could you please just stop posting videos? Like, yeah, you got your kicks off with the first video. Let it be that. But he just, he wouldn't stop posting them.

But I don't have any bad blood with him, I don't guess. But I couldn't be friends with him.

How come?

Just because of the concept. Like, you know, I asked you politely, please stop posting those videos. Like, I was not mentally well during those first two weeks and he still wouldn't stop and he just kind of kept going no matter like what we told him So I just I don't know. I don't have any kind of Patience for people like that

I wonder if there should be some kind of legal protections for people who get interviewed while they're out drinking by people like that

Well, I mean I didn't sign anything or tell him it was okay to post it

So but I guess the legally speaking especially depending on like what state it is, as long as you're in a public area, someone can interview you even if you're blackout drunk or you're homeless addicted to drugs. Like technically someone could still interview you. Do you think there should be like maybe a law in place where someone can request footage to be taken down if they were, you know?

I mean, I guess it depends. Some people might think different than I do and they're like, oh, it's just something harmless. It just got put on the internet. I don't know, which it worked out for the good of me or for the good for me, I guess.

But like, you know, at the same time, it's kind of disrespectful, I think. But you know, most people have different ideas and stuff like that and what they believe in. Some places could. What was the first moment where you realized that it had grown to a point that you couldn't contain it? So I got to work and I woke up that morning getting ready for work and my friends had sent it

in our group chat. I was like, oh, he's got like 6,000 likes. I was like, that's still a lot, but it's not gonna get out of control or anything. By the time I got done with work that day, like millions of views. I was like, okay, maybe this is a problem. Like I couldn't process it. I was like, this isn't real. Like this isn't actually happening. But it did. And then I ended up finally having to tell my granny about it that I

live with. Well, lived with. She was like, I don't get it. And I was like, okay. I tried to explain it to her some more. She was like, oh, okay. Like she got it. And she was like, that's kind of funny. And I was like, okay, well, she's good. She's good. So I wasn't worried anymore after I told her.

But so what pointed the kind of terror of being a viral setting?

Probably after that first day when I seen all the views and stuff it got and everybody that was like recreating it and doing something with a sound or something like that, like me and my friend Chelsea that was in it, we probably stayed in my house or in her house. We'd switch back and forth for like two weeks. Like we wouldn't go anywhere. It was one of those things like where you're just embarrassed to death to come out of the house.

Like, what do you say to somebody? Cause like everybody around my town like knows who I am. They're like, oh no, that's Haley. The print going from somebody that's just like everybody and their mama sees you on the internet and you're like, oh no. What are some of the comments you read that really affected you? Off the top of my head, like you had like a bunch of mobs and stuff.

They're like, oh, that's so trashy. Like if my daughter ever did that and then you'd have people saying, what does her father think about this? My dad thought it was funny.

He knows how I am, so. like that stage one of embarrassment. But for you, I think it went so viral that you're now at this like, you're at this dilemma probably two weeks into the whole experience of like, do I just live like in the shadows for the rest of my life? Or do I try to make a career out of this?

Well, the thing that sucked about it, like I was just gonna sit there and be embarrassed about it and let it pass. But then I seen all these women pretending like they were the girls in the video and they were making money off of it and I was like Well, they're not even the ones in the video. So like if they're making money off of it, I should too I mean, there's no reason I shouldn't so that's what I did and had your influence or journey first start in that regard It's a little overwhelming

Like I don't know how long we had these tickets like we were supposed to go see Zach Bryant in concert up inviting me up on stage with him and everything and it just started rolling right after that. Like that night I was with Zach Bryan, the next night I met Shaquille O'Neal. Like it just, it was going, like fast.

Was that exciting?

Oh yeah, of course. Shaq is, he's huge. Like I think, I don't think he touched the ceiling in here.

He's physically that large in person.

Yes, he's ginormous. It's like a big teddy bear though. He's a really nice guy. Did you have any other cool link-ups during that first period? Yeah, with Khalifa. He'd come on our podcast and he was really cool.

Yeah, I want to hear about like the actual influence or journey. So whenever you first started, were you approached by like a Hollywood agency to start?

Let's see. My best friend's mom, she was like, you need to get a lawyer Instagram account just stuff like that. So the talk to a podcast

Mm-hmm. How quickly did that start after the video went viral?

About a month or two after it was a lot of fun, too I don't know We just kept kind of rolling and then The only thing that was bad about doing the podcast most of them we done to get a guest would be in California. I just got tired of getting up and going. It's just so exhausting to have to get up every other week and fly to California and then fly back.

I'm more of a homebody. I've always been a homebody.

You like Tennessee?

Yeah, for the most part.

You wanna stay here forever?

I guess so, I would. I couldn't live in California. How come? It's just too busy, too busy. I cannot drive up there. There's people everywhere. I just, I couldn't do it.

You like the rolling hills out here?

Yeah, it's nice out here. And everybody down here is just polite. Like it's the South. Everybody, you can drive down the road and wave at somebody and somebody's gonna wave at you back. You can go to California and they won't do that. Especially in Los Angeles. Yeah. Whenever you were going to LA and doing this podcast stuff, was there any particular celebrity

who reached out to you or anything like that that you couldn't believe?

I think I was home when Lil Baby sent me a cowboy emoji, but I was like, what is happening? That's so crazy. I still couldn't believe it, but we didn't really talk much. I think he messaged my managers for something, but I don't know. Well, Lil Baby historically doesn't talk much.

No.

Well, he does, but he's gone through a lot, so he has a hard time getting words out.

Understandable.

What did you and Lil Baby talk about?

Nothing really. He just sent me a cowboy emoji, and I was like, no way. And he was like, I can't remember what he asked me for I think my manager's contact or something like that. I don't know I never heard anything back, but I couldn't tell you

What was the coolest experience that you had kind of coming up in that influencer world? I have to DJ with Shaq

It was a lot of fun. We got to do it in Nashville. He stepped on my foot DJ diesel did yes, damn That sounds painful. It didn't feel very good. There's a lot of fun though. What was the strangest experience you had during that time? There's a YouTuber that showed up like two minutes down the road from my granny's house and was passing out like flyers with my face on it. It was like wanted.

Wanted for what?

I couldn't even tell you. Like I have no idea. He was, have you ever heard of him? Frederick Bayer? No, I haven't. I think it's like an act he puts on, like where he's obnoxious, but he was literally two minutes down the road from my granny's house. And was like passing out flyers.

He's like, yep, I'm here to kill Haley. And I was like, okay.

There to kill you?

Yeah.

How'd that make you feel?

A little concerned about my wellbeing. That's about it,. Being from Tennessee, does your grandma have a firearm? Who, my granny? Yeah, she's got a shotgun by the door.

So that probably relaxed the fear a little bit,

probably eased the fear.

It did, it was really hard to keep her contained in the house while that was happening. Because she called me and I guess she was the first one to find out and she was like, oh, okay, well, there's some dummy down here at the store. And I was like, okay. Damn, how do you think you found out where your granny's house was? Most people like Belfast where I'm from, like it's not very big. Like there's not many places you can go at all.

The name of the town is Belfast?

Belfast, Tennessee.

It's named after a town in Ireland.

Yeah.

I was just there. It's pretty cool, Belfast had a lot of tension because in Northern Ireland it's technically still occupied by the British. So a lot of tension between loyalists and people who want Ireland to be united.

So.

Did you go to a pub?

Yeah, I went to a bunch of pubs.

What was the pub like?

Just a bunch of dudes singing and drinking Guinness

and pounding their fists.

They were singing?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. things you talked about on that podcast that you had the most fun discussing? Really anything, I like getting to know my guests.

I think that was the fun part. Because I mean, you got Wiz Khalifa, you know him for songwriting, smoking weed, and stuff like that, but I thought there was more to him. And there was, like he gave me some great advice. He was like, you gotta be really careful

like what you put your name on, you know? Yeah, well that kind of bridges nicely to the next topic, which would be the Hawk to a coin. Oh, Lord.

The whole like crypto, I guess, scandal that emerged based upon your likeness.

Today we're breaking down the Hawk to a scam.

Yeah, the Hawk to a girl launched the meme coin. That's just like a term they use, calling it a meme coin. It's really not. It's just always a scam coin.

In your perspective, what happened there?

In my perspective, I'd say that I got talked into doing something that I didn't know anything about, really, but you gotta be really careful what you put your name on. I think people give me a lot more credit for that whole crypto scam than I can actually pull off.

They're like, oh yeah, she pulled this off. I'm almost a 22 year old girl. You give me so much credit. You really think I can do that by myself?

Okay.

It's just one of those things. I've never had a Twitter account until we started doing a crypto coin. But it's just, I don't know, it's one of those things. And the internet will take something and run with it so far. I don't know. They just blow it out of proportion. You'll have random people that never even put $2 in the coin.

They're like, oh, where's my money at? You didn't even put money in it.

Yeah.

It's just one of those things.

Yeah. I mean, I kind of first gained influencer status when I was around 21, 22. Did you really? being a street interviewer, and one of the first things that happened in my career was I got approached by crypto dudes. Right away, they were like, hey, how would you like to make an All Gas, No Bricks coin, an Andrew Callahan coin?

And for some reason, I just had this calling in the back of my head, like, stay away from it. Did you know any people in that world prior?

Well, they've always said that, is it Logan Paul or Jake Paul? One of the Paul brothers that's done it, but I didn't know what it was at that time, but I've always heard to stay away from anything coin related like Bitcoin, crypto, anything like that, stay away from it.

So of course at first I was like, no, no, no. And then it got brought to me as an idea like, oh, well think about it this way. Like after you do this coin, like it's a good way to interact with your community. You can do this, you can do that with it. You can donate half of it to like your Paws Across America organization. Like you can donate so much of that to charity. And I was like, you know what? I was like, okay. I was like, that's fine. But other than that, it just, it's not a good idea. And I

advise anybody to stay far away from it. Who was it that first approached you and kind of talked you into it? We can't talk about... We can't name names on that. Well, if you didn't name names, could you describe what kind of person it was? Like, was it a entertainment... Was it another influencer? Was it like a...

I wouldn't say. It was just... You can say.

It was somebody closer. Like, you kind of keep on your left arm. He was introduced from a friend of a friend, if that makes sense.

Yeah. And it's one of these sort of like big crypto guys

who works with influencers to build coins.

Yep. I don't think it was necessarily all his fault, but I'm still gonna be like, yep, it was your fault. But I think he ended up like, can I say that? He hired some yeah He ended up hiring somebody else to help him out because he I think he bit off more than he can chew if that makes sense So he hired somebody to help him that he knew of and just didn't know a whole lot about and then he screwed us like

Really bad, but I don't know. It's just one of those things you live and you learn I won't ever touch another one again

Yeah

I mean I just find it interesting because like I said You're not the first person this has happened to and I'm just curious about the mechanics of how these things work Like how exactly the crypto crowd is tied into the world of influencers How they go about using them because the whole process is just convincing you to sign off on saying you can use my face on

This coin exactly and that's all it Like, I did not control the coin myself. I'm not smart enough to do that. I don't know anything about it. But that's just one of those things, like you have your face on it, your name on it, and then somebody else runs it.

I didn't have any part in it, but everybody in the mama thinks I did, so. What was the actual pitch that was made to you? basically what I told you, you know, like, this is gonna be so much money, like, you can donate half of it, like, you'll have it for your charity, you can donate all of this. And I was like, okay, I was like, you know what,

that don't sound like a bad idea at all. And then you can get to know your community, like, your fans can interact with you. Like, one of the biggest ideas we talked about, Pet smart and they adopt a cat from there from like a shelter or something like that You can give them coins for that. Like that's a good deed. Technically. That's the way it got used and brought to me So I was like, you know what that is a really good idea, but it didn't it did not turn out like that at all So what actually happened? So the day that the coin launched I actually had I

Think two podcasts that day we were in California when it happened and the guy that was in the room with us, the one that was like operating the coin, we noticed he was like pacing around everywhere, like nervous. And I was like, is that normal? Like why is he acting like that? Because you know, I'm doing podcasts. I'm not controlling the coin. But after all that and we finished all the podcasts, everybody just kind of went out of the room and they looked concerned and I was like, what is going on? Like, I don't understand what's happening. They're like, oh, nothing, you ain't gonna worry about it. I pull up my TikTok and the next thing I know,

oh, yep, Hailey Welch is going to jail. And I was like, what did I do? Why am I going to jail? You know, but after everything got figured out, the FBI, like the, what are they called? The- Yeah, the SEC. I was cooperative with everybody.

I even sent my phone off for days and like had everything searched through there. And I'm sitting here talking to you. So, I mean, I didn't do anything wrong.

Yeah, I saw that you got cleared by the SEC.

Yeah, like I'm good.

What about the other guy?

DVD.

Yeah, yeah, so that's still ongoing but you're out of it. Damn, that must be a crazy experience.

Oh, it's enough to traumatize you. Like, I wouldn't come out of the house for like months.

How would you compare like that second wave of, I guess, shame to the first?

It was worse than the first time because like this time I was starting to get like death threats and everything else. People telling me I owe them all this money and I'm like, I didn't do this. And I'm sitting here and I'm the one getting hit for this. But it's rough. It's like one of those things like where if you come out of the house,

you put your head down. Like it's just rough.

Yeah, it was worse than when the video went viral.

Oh yeah, 100%. It was just, not even for me. Like you see all these people that put in their money that they bust their ass at work to make and then they put their money into this and they just lose it like for nothing after they trusted me. It's a terrible feeling, you know? Did people really lose a lot of money? I think they calculated what, how much was actually lost. It's hard to tell between real people and like actual crypto people. It's hard to tell. Yeah it was like 200,000 but like I kept seeing stuff on TikTok like before we found out how much

was actually really lost like I think 200,000 of real people's money got lost and then the rest of it was like scammers and stuff like that but that's I don't know. I don't even know how it works Like I have no clue how any of that stuff worked

It sounds like how it works is the person who's in control of the coin Will do some insider trading and then have people that he knows that's where he got messed up at I'm pretty sure yeah, I got a rain it so so people basically sell like shares or something like that or tokens before the coin goes live and they'll kind of all pull out and Devalue it rapidly when that happens

Well, see I even tried to go like we went to a Bitcoin conference and I was like, yeah I'm willing to learn this because you know, I'm gonna be doing it I might as well try and understand it we spent I couldn't tell you how many hours at this conference I walked away and still didn't know anything about it. Couldn't tell you. But the way it would work, he'd be like, okay, well we need to do videos like to put on your Twitter. And he'd send me messages like what to say in these videos and I'd film it, you know, whatever. But still didn't understand it.

My Hawk meme coin is live! And that's part of my fault too, I will say, because I had no business putting my name on something I didn't understand, which I know that now, but it's just one of those things.

Yeah, that's why I say the story is so interesting, because all of this began with you just having beers in Nashville, not beers, sorry, I don't know, what were you drinking?

Vodka.

Having vodkas on Broadway, right? And the next thing you know, you're involved in some kind of crypto scam and you have a podcast in Los Angeles and then you have like all of scam YouTube is kind of using you as this pariah.

I have questions I'm raising my hand. Hey guys. What coffee Zilla? I didn't know who he was but I

heard him on the live that that live I'm pretty that live was a day after the coin launch right like it was the same day that's who I heard talking and that's when I realized like everything was like, you know, shit hitting the fan, like it didn't go good because I heard him on there and he was like going off like asking questions about this, this and this and the guy that was on there talking to him, he couldn't answer those questions. And I was like, those are simple questions that he's just wanting to know, like why can't you answer them? So you understood where coffeezilla was coming from? I didn't at first

Hey, this is one of the most miserable horrible launches I've ever seen in my life Okay, then why the fuck are you on?

And then I did after and I was like, okay He's got a point but like he's barking up the wrong tree Like he thinks I did this like full intent knowing what's gonna happen. I didn't know anything about it, which again, that's my fault. I didn't know anything about it, but I don't know. It was a roof.

Yeah, for sure.

All right, so Hailey Welch is famously a homebody. In fact, she'd never even been on an airplane before going viral, which honestly, after another long red-eye flight, sounds pretty chill to me. Throughout many experiences, I've learned the hard way that when you're landing somewhere in tents, the last thing you want to do is be stuck standing in an airport with no internet and nowhere to be. So today's video is sponsored by Saley. Back in 2022, I actually flew into Ukraine

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Download Saly and travel like you actually know what you're doing What did your life look like in the following weeks after this whole thing went down?

I was scared to go home like I had to go through the airport and as soon as we landed there was a guy that was like I Don't know his own floor by the gates and stuff and he was like, where's my money at? And I was like, oh no I just put my hood over my head and I got my shit and I got out of there. But it was scary, you know, cause like people are losing their money and I had all sorts of messages saying, I'm gonna kill you, like, I'm gonna kill your family.

You're gonna give me my money back and stuff like that. And like, I don't, I don't have anybody's money. Like, and if I would have, I probably would be sitting in jail, but.

So somebody else's the thing. I don't know Someone that's not you has the money If they have not already spent it Because I mean once once dark money goes a certain way, there's no way to trace it exactly

So literally every bit of that was for nothing. Mm-hmm. It was just I don't know. Yep

It just it wasn't good. Do you know if the scam victims have like tried to seek restitution? from this group that was?

There was um, what is that firm called?

So there's an ongoing civil lawsuit?

It's a group, it's a class action, it's a group of plaintiffs.

Oh great, so there's a class action lawsuit happening with a group of plaintiffs who are suing someone who's not you to try to get their money back. And would you support these plaintiffs?

Well no, she's named in this suit, too.

You're named in this suit, too?

Yep.

Do you think you'll be all right?

I definitely do, because, I mean, you can go through my phone, you can have it right now, there's nothing in my phone.

To say more that Haley and her lawyer cannot, filed by 12 plaintiffs who suffered a collective loss of $151,000 were 1. A Los Angeles man known as Doc Holliday, legal name Alex Larson Schultz, a cryptocurrency trader who initially proposed the Hawk token to Haley, and 2. Clinton So, a software engineer based in Hong Kong who developed the trading platform called OverHere, which launched the coin back in the November of 2024.

Like I told you, I was fully cooperative with the FBI and the SEC and they're like, okay, well, you're good. I gave them everything on my phone, anything including keywords like meme coin, crypto, anything like that, they have every bit of it off my phone. So, after I got back home from California, like after everything with the crypto stuff,

I can't even remember where I was at. I might've been at my boyfriend's house. I have no idea but I got a call from my gran She's like Hayley. You need to come home and I'm like, wow, what is wrong? She's like there's two FBI agents at the door looking for you. And I was like, oh Okay, that doesn't happen every day cuz I'm telling you we literally live out and be a feel like bumfuck Egypt We have a dollar store in Belfast. That's literally all we got down looking for me. I was like, oh shit. And I was like, I'm gullible too. I believe everything I'm saying. And I was like, I'm going to prison. I was like, that's where I'm going. You know what?

I got to thinking about it though. I was like, maybe I'll meet Todd Chrisley. I was like, maybe, maybe everything will be fine, whatever. But she told me on the phone, she's like I let him handcuff me and take me off and I was like your grandma said that all right Granny, so when I went for my interview after we got it called and set up, you know in Nashville with FBI And I was fully cooperative, you know, talk to them told him everything name names, whatever

I told him I was like my granny wanted you to stay at the house with her and he was like Me and I was like, yeah, yeah yeah I was like she thought you look good but it tickled him to death he was red faced. Do you think he

was willing to engage your grandma in that kind of manner? No he's probably

smart not doing it. Hey Big Big Round is that damn fireplace over there she can cook really good. So your grandma's got some fire in her? Granny's got some fire in her.

And how did that conversation with the FBI go? It went really good.

Like, I mean, as good as you could expect it to.

Mm-hmm.

The good vibes?

It was good vibes. I liked him. Besides one guy, there was one guy in the room. He was just scary. I mean, the scariest looking guy I've ever seen in my life. He meant business.

I didn't look at him, really. cop, bad cop situation. There's like, how many do you think? Four in the room? Four? Yeah, there's four of them in the room. Everybody's good vibes besides this one guy. What'd you ask him?

I walked in, they were all like, saying their name and their occupation, and we're just walking down the line, like, funks, I'm FBI, FBI, so I started to think, I'll make a little Kelly Blackwell plumber and it just looks at me. It didn't say anything.

I guess I didn't find him funny.

What do you think was the most like gotcha hardball question that the mean FBI agent asked you?

He asked me a lot of like in depth questions like about the crypto coin. And I was like I just looked at my lawyer because I don't I don't know what any of that shit means. So I was like what does that mean and he'd have to explain it and I was like nice. Like what's a confusing phrase that he said? Like he asked about something in a phantom wallet and then he asked about

there was types of coins, I guess. I still couldn't tell. I'm telling you, I have no idea. Like types of coins, I guess. Like how much this one's worth, like one cent. This one's worth like five cents.

I don't know. I don't know anything about it. I have no clue.

And it seems like you really don't know.

No, I'm dumb as a bag of rocks, so.

I don't think you're dumb, I just think you don't know about crypto.

I don't. Which makes you smart. Exactly, that's what they told me too, and I was like, thanks, I guess.

Because how many of these crypto bros could build a bed spring?

Exactly, you're exactly right,

or one that goes in a vending machine spiral? Like the one that would release a Nature Valley bar onto the basin? Yep.

You made those?

Not necessarily make, like we'll make them where I worked at, and then I would check like the dimensions and stuff on them. And then I hated doing that, it was terrible. But then my part, like where I actually worked like full time, I done shipping.

Like I'd pack out so many in a box and then we'd ship them out to wherever they're going. Did I send my phone off to them or the SEC?

The SEC, yeah.

I ended up sending my phone off for like four days while I was in California to the SEC and then it come back, which I didn't have any notes or anything on it, so I don't know. And I'm sitting here talking to you, so I guess I didn't find anything. Whenever you got cleared, were you like, yes? Well, I knew it was gonna be cleared because I didn't have anything to do with it Besides if they would have looked in like mine and my brother's messages I was like, yeah, fuck that stupid fucking crypto motherfucker. Besides that there's nothing in there about crypto

So despite being technically cleared by the SEC Haley says that news story got very little attention and that online hate continues to persist in the way it had before which

Altogether has had an extremely negative effect on her mental health. You know, you go from like everybody in the world just loving you to pieces and the next day they're like, oh, yep, she needs to die. We're going to take all her money. She took our money and stuff like that. And it's just, it's bullshit really. Cause like I didn't do it. Like you can look at me sitting here and you're like, yep, she's a crypto scammer. She all the money. It's just one of those things. What did that teach you about humanity?

The internet is a cruel space, I will say. But isn't it strange how it can reinforce positive self-image just as quickly? It can do anything. Everything can change with like snap of a finger. It don't take long. Especially, you know, you had probably not even realized it, but become dependent on like positive dopamine rushes from social media. Having a podcast, I'm sure there was people, some people like saying negative shit like, oh yeah, I saw stuff like your 15 minutes is almost over and I saw like the seeds of cruelty begin to be planted. People were like, Haley, you're

gonna have to make an OnlyFans soon, like, time's coming to a close. Like, Shaq's not gonna have you in his next DJ Diesel set at the Bellagio in Vegas. Think of something new. So I saw that kind of resentment begin, and then it just seemed to reach a boiling point. So do you think that people are fundamentally good?

I'd say some are, but I think most of it comes from people being so easily influenced because of internet. That's really all it is. They believe anything they see on the internet, it could be AI, it could just be something fake somebody posted. They'll take anything and run with it.

I mean, that's one of the biggest problems in our world, I think.

So going back to the whole viral fame thing, the internet has this weird thing they do where they love to make regular people famous. They want to bring you up into the limelight. But once you're there for too long, you start- Oh, they hate you. Yeah. You start collaborating with people that are on the celebrity tier. They start resenting you and wanting almost to bring you back down. I have a theory it's because all fame and desire for fame is rooted in fear of death. Existential anxiety about impermanence makes people want to seek fame as the closest thing to immortality.

So they wanna feel like you being famous as an avatar of them having some sort of value. Because they see themselves as someone like you, someone on the street. They build you up, but once you're in the sky, they're on the ground being like,

we gotta bring her back down, this has gone too far.

And they'll be like, oh, we made the wrong one famous. Like I see that a lot and I'm like, okay. Well, you did it. Like I'm here because of you.

When did you notice those like her 15 minutes are up comments starting to hit?

Oh, that was like as soon as it started. Like I've got those plumbed from the point like all this even happened. Like her 15 minutes will be over like next week. Don't worry about it. She won't be here by then. I don't know, is it supposed to offend me? I mean, I'm grateful for everything

that has happened and everything. And I mean, if it stops, it stops. Like, what can I do about it? Like, I'm just glad I got to do more stuff in the last two years of my life that people will do in their entire lifetime.

I'm grateful for that, you know?

That's good you look at it that way. social media again, you'd be happy just to have lived these two years. Oh, I'd be so okay. I'd be so okay with it. Like I got to go to Hawaii, I got to go to London,

I've got to go so many different places. I even got to go to Bora Bora last year. Like that's crazy. I wouldn't go back, but.

I don't even know where that is.

French Polynesia?

Yeah.

Okay, somewhere far. Yes. So, yeah, do you plan to engineer a big social media comeback or are you just going to chill?

Um, I still post here and there, don't get me wrong, but I don't know. I'm okay with posting. It's something fun I like to do.

Yeah. Did the whole crypto scam controversy have a super negative impact on your fan base?

It definitely did. I still get comments all the time about it, but I think it's like, mostly it's bots, I think, because nobody really cares anymore. Like they'll forget about it. Somebody else will do it like again in the next week and they'll haze on them, so.

Yeah, I guess you'd kind of either have to wait it out or you would have to really attack it head on.

Exactly. It's just one of those things. I can't sit there and comment back to every single person that comments, oh, crypto scammer, where's my money and stuff like that. But really all it is, they just want a response or it's a bot, that's all it is.

Would you respond if you could?

I do, for the most part, when I see people comment, I'm like, I don't have your money. Or like I'll joke with them or something, and they're so nice after, on to him. That's interesting. I had somebody comment on my thing, I think it was on one of my threads the day before yesterday, I was going back and forth with him. He put a picture of the Epstein files on there and he was like, I know you're in this picture somewhere, where are you? I was like, I'm flying the

plane. He was so nice after, like that's exactly, I don't know. So you think even Oh yeah, of course. That's how most of them are. But then sometimes you will get a grade A asshole that's just, you know, been an asshole for no reason.

Did you try to relaunch the Talk To A podcast after the whole controversy?

Yeah, I tried to, and it just, I don't know, it wasn't as fun. Like we started doing it in Nashville instead of California so I wouldn't have, it just wasn't as fun. Kind of burnt out really. But I think we took so much time off not doing it, I just couldn't get back into it, you know?

Yeah.

Are you gonna consider like going back

to working a regular job?

If I ever had to, yeah, I would. I'd love it. I'd love to go back to my old job. I enjoyed it.

At the Spring Factory?

Oh yeah, It was nice. It was meditative. Yeah, I liked it. Did it pay pretty good? No. By no means. I brought home maybe $400 a week, if that, but I had insurance come out and then taxes, but I don't know. It was doable. Like, I could have lived off 400 bucks a week. I got all my bills paid and I had like a little change to get me a snack during the week but other than that... And like so what are you doing for you know money nowadays? Let's say I have my fanfics Fanfics? What's fanfics? Oh, you can post pictures of yourself on there

You can talk to people all day, but like I think they got to pay you to talk to you too, don't they? Yeah. That's pretty cool. Maybe we should do that. Do it.

And that's enough to like meet the spring factory. Oh yeah. Level of running plenty. That's cool. Did you see those tweets that went viral like over the past couple of days that

said you had an only fans? Yeah. I heard something about that. Not true. No. I don't think I could ever do OnlyFans. Yeah. I mean, this is so weird to say, you gotta have something to sell before you can get on there. I'm nothing but back, so I mean, they can leave me out of that shit.

So, like, it's crazy, because that tweet went viral.

Yeah, people expect me to turn around and do that, like, after everything's ended, and you know, nobody wants to see me on on my fence, make a quick buck and be done with everything. I don't wanna do that at all.

But they don't know that you're a true American and you're down to go back to the spring factory.

I'm so okay with that. Like you just don't even understand. I had so much fun going to work.

How much of your future on social media and in the digital content world do you think depends on the outcome of the class action suit? Like for example, there's the lawsuit like do you think that like you being cleared in the suit and like the details coming out and discovery Will help you kind of like really advocate for yourself

Not really. I mean everybody's had months worth of hate and shit. They've commented all over my posts and stuff They've already got it out. Like it's just one of those things and I don't know. They all believe like I can't change change somebody's mind. If you really think I've done that, then okay, that's your opinion. I can't change that, you know? It's just one of those things.

Goes back to what I was asking is like, is it a better idea to just wait it out or like wait for more details to come out in the suit

and like make a video and be like, I'm just done talking about it. Like I've talked about it and talked about it and talked about it. Like I can't make you understand that I didn't have anything to do with it. Like I had something to do with it, yeah. I was gullible and got talked into it and put my name on it. But like as of like actually having control of the coin

and doing that to people, I didn't do that.

So this is, right now is the final word on it. And so is there anything else that you wanted to say about that in particular?

Not really. Like I told you, I've talked about it so many times and I've sat here and told so many people, like explained to you just like how I did them, you know, like how everything folded out and how it happened. Like I can't stress it enough. Like I didn't have anything to do with it besides putting my name on it and being gullible. The next question I wanted to ask you is

what advice would you give to someone in your shoes who went viral, maybe by accident, maybe on purpose, and they're popping off, they're doing collabs with different influencers, and they get approached by a crypto guy, a crypto bro, or a crypto company?

I'd tell them run as fast as you can and don't sign anything that you don't understand or you don't know how it works. Run as fast as you can.

And what about to somebody who is walking down the street after a night of drinking and they see a guy with a microphone about to ask them about their body count?

You know what? Hell yeah, if you wanna answer it, answer it. If you don't, that's all you, but if you wanna answer it and have a good time,

you go for it. Might bite you in the ass though. I will warn. Maybe there's going to be so many inappropriate street interviews in the next couple decades we're going to have to apply blanket amnesty across the board in the year 2050. Where it's like if you did an interview before 25, that cannot be factored into your job application. Would you support that legislation?

I mean, sure.

Yeah. You can be 25 years out of prison, you can get a good job at the library, no worries.

Even if you're a felon? I think it's non-violent felons. Okay non regrets. I mean, like I told you, I've got to do more in this last two years of my life than some people will ever get to do in a lifetime. So I'm just grateful to be where I'm at.

For those looking to support Hailey without engaging in fan flicks or subscribing to any other social media content, she'd like for you to support her charity,

Paws Across America, a canine adoption service pups in need, if not more. Send them that out of the account and they'll do that. Or we'll go and we'll make a whole day out of it and we'll vlog it and we'll go and buy stuff from PetSmart and donate it to them. It's nice. You can get to go. I'm tender-hearted.

I don't like seeing all the sad stuff. But that's something I wanna do after I retire and everything. Not right now, but I want to have an animal sanctuary and take a bunch of animals and stuff in they don't have homes or

They're like deaf blind anything like that. If you became the first female president, would you abolish all kill shelters?

Oh, yeah, 100% 100%

Well, what would you do with the surplus of lonely dogs? Oh, I'd take them see I want to buy like

Yes, I want to buy like a hundred acres and have it fenced in and just turn them out every day. Turn them out? Mm-hmm. You know, go and play. Gotcha, gotcha. Not like turn them out like into the world, not like that. No, not like pawn them off

to bestiality guys. Yeah. There was a, they had recently uncovered a bestiality compound near my hometown of Seattle, Washington. What is that? A bunch of dudes were fucking cows at a big barn near my hometown in Mount Lake Terrace. Some of them were high ranking professors at the local college caught in the act, cow gang bangs. But they're all in jail now. Would you recommend death penalty for dudes like that?

Or do you think you'd recommend a more rehabilitative Swedish model of incarceration?

I feel like death penalty is too kind because they just get it over with and they don't have to suffer anything. So I'd say probably life in prison.

Life in prison with no sunlight.

No sunlight. You don't need to go outside, you can get one meal a day, that's it.

No beef.

How many dogs do you have right now?

I have two, but I will end up having more. I had a foster puppy last week So I got my first foster puppy last week and I had her for a day and then she got adopted the next day and I was a wreck. So I don't know if I can do that again. Yeah, it was rough

I adopted it. I adopted a pregnant dog and she had six puppies and we had to Send them off for adoption. That was a tough day. Yeah, it's rough. You think dogs are better than us?

Yeah, it's rough. You think dogs are better than us? Yeah, 100% Cuz I mean you can have some mean dogs here and there but like you don't have dogs killing people You don't have dogs robbing banks. You don't have dogs just doing anything that a human can do They can't say nothing hurtful either. So what's the worst thing a dog can do? Probably piss on your couch

My boss done it and I'm like, oh no. Do you think that having animals around helped you navigate some of these

tougher times? Oh yeah, 100%. I think I talk to my dogs more than I do my boyfriend because like I mean he works all day long and I'll just hang out with him at the house. I have ducks, I have seven ducks, I have two cats that I rescued and then I have a Great Dane and then a miniature weenie dog. So how did you guys meet? Oh yeah.

How did we meet?

Sonic?

I wouldn't even say that. Sonic drive-in or a screening of the Hedgehog film?

Like the drive-in. Okay, got it. That's the first time I ever met him, but I knew him through one of my best friends. They're cousins. Chelsea, the one that was in the interview with me, her and her sister that we're both best friends with, well, not him, me, I was best friends with them, they introduced me to him like years ago.

How long have you guys been together for?

Going on two years.

So right around the time this thing first cracked off?

Yeah.

Are you, what's her nickname?

Pookie.

No way, that's you? I love you,ookie forever! Oh my god, you're kind of a micro celebrity too. Yeah, you are. That's crazy. Pookie's been here this whole time. Yeah. I thought, damn, I thought Pookie was like the boyfriend from before everything happened. No. Damn, Pookie, that's what's up, man. Did you guys see there's a podcast that was a TalkToA podcast, TalkToA analysis podcast. Welcome to Talking TalkToA, the official companion podcast to TalkTua.

I'm Peter.

And I'm Cam. And we're your hosts here to the only official companion podcast.

Did you see that?

I've met them twice.

No, you have not.

They're really cool guys, I will say.

They appreciate your guys' relationship.

Oh yeah, 100%. Well, they're a little, what's the word I'm looking for? One's a little biased about it. Like one was Team Pookie and the other one wasn't.

But we do learn that Pookie has some skeletons in his closet.

You think people are cruel?

Some of them can be.

You think they're as cruel in person as they are online?

I hope not. I don't think so. I think most people are just more comfortable doing it online, because they can have fake accounts, so I don't have to show their real identity, they don't have to show who they are, what they look like, it's just easier that way.

So you think it enables people's darkness

to reach the surface?

Oh yeah, 100%.

You've seen that a lot.

Yeah. for humanity? If I could, if I could just toss my phone away and never have to get on the internet again, like, you know, TikTok, well, I can't live without TikTok. I don't have to make TikToks, but watching TikTok, I like watching TikToks, but now anything else, like Instagram, Twitter, anything like that, I can 100% live without.

But do you think humanity and human beings

would have been better off without modern technology? I don't know. It has plus sides and it has like downsides of it too. Like, oh, you can look up how to cook a roast on the internet. Like sure, that's something good. But like other stuff like hazing other people and bullying them and stuff like that. No. But I feel like everybody gets so easily influenced by things they see on the internet. It like freaks them out. Like the Epstein files. Like stuff like that. Like I wonder if some of the stuff I've read on there is even true. Which I'm sure some of it is true,

like all the stuff that they did, but like little bitty details like, have you seen the intestines part?

No, can you tell me?

Oh God. So evidently the people on Epstein Island, they like killed babies and ate like their shit out of their intestines. I swear to God and it tastes like cream cheese I swear to God that's what it says on there Like it's stuff like that where I'm like, is that is that even true?

I didn't think you were gonna say ate their shit. I don't think it's funny to eat babies

That's what I'm saying

Because you think they ate a different part of the baby

That's what I'm saying though

But like it's little shit like that and I'm like Is that sick or is this just some bullshit some guys come up with? I wonder all the time. I think the government, not to get too crazy here, but a lot of times they'll take some

real information and they'll drown it in stupid conspiracy shit to make it all seem stupid. Exactly. Was Epstein trafficking people to powerful kings abroad and stuff? Yeah. Were they eating this shit out of babies' intestines as an act of satanic worship?

No way.

I don't know.

There's way more pedos than there is dudes that need baby shit out of intestines.

Well, that's what I'm kind of thinking too. Cause like who in the hell would just wake up one day and be like, yep, I'm going to try that today. It's going to taste like cream cheese.

Well, I guess maybe there that's normal. Yeah, where did you read that?

TikTok, I'm telling you TikTok shows everything. And then they'll have stuff like back it up. There's a disease you can get. And Epstein had it before like he died, like where the side of his face swelled up and he had bumps all over it.

But you get that, but it's a disease you get. And he had it on his face and I was like, okay, they might be onto something here, but I'm gullible, I'm gullible too. So I can't really say anything about believing shit off the internet.

So you think TikTok is like the biggest place for misinformation?

Yeah. I see a lot of stuff. Like mostly it's about the Epstein files. But like, then you'll see like real stuff that's happening. Like what we were just talking about a while ago, like all the bombing and stuff in Mexico right now, because a cartel leader was killed. I'm sure that's like actually happening. Like a hundred percent.

Totally happening.

I don't know. It's hard to tell. Cause like AI looks so real. And it was, I seen bunny rabbits and I seen deer, but they were jumping on a trampoline. I thought it was real for like three weeks before I found out it was AI. I was like, oh, look at them bunny rabbits

jumping on a trampoline.

Who broke the news to you?

Yeah, there's no way six, like six does are getting on a trampoline and they're just sitting there in a group of circle and just jumping up and down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the same drink when the rabbits were jumping on it. It's just...

Gender question. Do you think that you would have gotten viral if you were a man? And you were referring to spit on that thing with reverse genitalia. You think a guy would go viral if he was like, I'm gonna spit on that thing. Or you think people would just be like,

Probably not. Because I don't think women would look at that and be like, yep, that's appealing. I don't I don't think so

Okay, so what would a man have to say to reach your level of virality?

You know what I think would go viral if men acted like men There's so many men in the world now that they want to be the woman in a relationship. Don't worry I'm not looking at you. I know you got the back scratches But you know like if they were just like how men used to be, like showing up to a woman's door with some flowers, opening the car door for her, just stuff like that, you know,

being a basic gentleman, you know? I feel like that'd be something good.

What do you think men want to do nowadays? They want the women to put in all the early Gen Z demographic, have also opted out of the dating market altogether in favor of joining insular, pornography-fueled online subcultures like the gooning community. Last week, we sent our new correspondent, Steph Dagg, out onto the front lines of Goon World to document an event called the Gooniversary, a candlelight vigil honoring the life of Nautica

Malone, an Arizona man who tragically took his own life after being caught and filmed, allegedly exposing himself in the drive-thru queue of a bikini barista in Tempe. Here is a preview of that footage.

Say his name! Nautica! Say his name! Nautica!

Nautica's death is bigger than 9-11. This was a recurring incident that all the girls were aware of. You killed that man. Nautica was a gooner. He's left behind by his wife and two kids. Do you think they consider him a goon lord?

I think they view him as a loving father that did a radical thing. I want to be just like my father. He was a gooner himself.

You know he did it in that parking spot.

No shit. That's messed up.

I analyzed that video over 1,000 times.

That man had the answer. Have you ever exposed yourself in a drive-thru? No, but I probably will in my future.

You killed that man! You killed that man!

Acting like it's a joke is damaging for everyone involved.

The spirit of the Gooner was really all around us.

I can't do it! I can't do it! I can't do it! I can't goon! If you'd like to see our complete, uncensored, and full documentary at the Gooniversary, head to our Patreon. I'll put the link in the description of this video. As many of you guys know, we are a completely independent news organization that is primarily powered

through your $5 monthly Patreon subs, which allow us to be free and cover the things that we want to. All right, back to Haley Welch. feel like men have lost their traditional masculinity? I'd say so. Like him, he'll go and get me flowers here and there.

Like just stuff like that. Yeah. But I feel like men nowadays, like they want you to get them the flowers. The women gotta plan the dates. Just stuff like that.

It shouldn't be that way, I don't think.

Yeah, that's what's kind of weird is like a lot of the red pill masculine culture

is saying shit like that. Have her ask him, say no. Or to ask chatGBT. Like why are you asking chatGBT how to go on a date?

Oh shit.

Like it's stuff like that. I'm like, it's really not that hard.

But according to some, dating, chivalry, and other acts of foolish gesture maxing are a complete waste of time that steal precious time away from looks maxing and other male self-improvement techniques. While Steph Dagg was filming at the Gooniversary, I was also in the field at a streaming mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida Interviewing Kicks top creator, Clavicular, and things surprisingly really didn't go that well.

Not one, you know, question about about LuxMaxing.

There's been so many questions about LuxMaxing. I probably asked you about LuxMaxing like 40 times. That video is also up right now in its raw form on our patreon a lot of shit to offer over there All right back to Haley again. So your life online will it continue forever?

It might continue for a few more years, but you know, I Thought once you get to a certain age, that's when you're like Do I really need to be on social media? Cuz like at that point it's kind of weird, I think. What do you want to live for in general? Like, are you really family oriented?

Is that something you'd want to do?

I'm sure, maybe. I like gardening. Yeah. I like to garden. I'm sure later on, like after we get married, sorry, I hope you plan to get married

because I just said after we get married. Sure, later on, I'm sure I'd be down for it. Not right now. How old are you now? I'll be 22

What's today's date? You know, no one knows next month March 11th. Okay, cool Yeah, yeah, cuz like a lot of people have this anxiety about like not starting a family before 30 Like I'm 28. I'm kind of feeling it right now. Are you married? No See look at you. Okay, that's a little concerning. See, reinforcing judgmental tropes.

No, I'm not being judgmental. Now I'm just thinking of doing speed dating for you.

Well, I have access to potential girlfriends, but they don't like my traveling lifestyle.

Well, it's just something they gotta understand, though, because, I mean, this is your career. That's something you gotta get up and go do, you know? I mean I get it cuz I mean I've had to do it. Yeah, it gets hard after a certain part though Yeah, I will say it does get hard. But well the road for me will never end You know, I'm want to be like a traveling journalist my whole life. We need to find somebody to travel with you That's true. I got just a friend for you. Do you really she loves to travel and what's the best thing about her?

You said you're 28. Yeah, is that old? She's funny. Nah. Okay. I'm older than Chelsea. She'll be 22 in April.

Chelsea from the Talk To A podcast?

Mm-hmm.

Shit on that thing?

Shit on...

I'm telling her you said that. She'd die. That'd be perfect.

I watched all the episodes.

Did you?

Fuck yeah. Live worldwide, Hollywood invites. Fuck the authority, Channel 5 News. Channel 55, we don't fuck with Custer's. Fuck yeah. Live worldwide, Hollywood invites. Fuck the authority, Channel 5 News. Channel 55, we don't fuck with Custer's. And five is the best number.