Hawk Tuah Girl Haliey Welch is taking over the internet with her charming take on spitting during oral sex — and she's also making bank .
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Hawk Tuah Girl Has Already Sold at Least $65,000 Worth of Merch
Rolling Stone talked to the man behind the brand, Jason Poteete of Fathead Threads, about the extremely graphic oral sex meme heard 'round the world.
When you call Fathead Threads, a Tennessee-based embroidery and apparel brand, a deep South-inflected twang is on the voicemail: “If you’re looking for Hawk Tuah hats, head to Facebook,” the voice says. The owner of the voice is Jason Poteete, who is currently in the bizarre position of serving as a brand manager for one of the most famous women in the country right now: a young, folksy blonde woman advocating for expectoration during oral sex.
The now-immortal phrase “Hawk Tuah” was coined by Hailey Welch, a young woman who on June 11 made internet history during a woman-on-the-street interview with the content creators Tim & Dee TV. In the clip, Welch is asked such R-rated questions about her preferred sexual positions, as well as a “move in bed [that] makes a man go crazy every time.” When asked that final question, she proffers the following: “You gotta give ’em that ‘hawk tuah’ and spit on that thang.”
Over the past week, the clip has gone massively viral, and has been referenced by everyone from Joe Rogan to Howard Stern to the Phillies’ Bryce Harper. And though there is plenty of Hawk Tuah-themed merch circulating on the internet — including from the shop for Tim & Dee itself — there is only one officially Hawk Tuah Girl-licensed Hawk Tuah merch vendor: Fathead Threads, a family-owned business based in Marshall County, Tennessee.
The brand is run by Poteete, a Marshall County native who has known Welch for years. He tells
Rolling Stone that a day or two after the video started going viral, he reached out to a stunned Welch to figure out a way to monetize her brand.
“Of course she hasn’t gotten a dime from the first viral video that went out,” Poteete says. “Nobody was asking permission for her to do nothing, neither. I just wanted her to get some profit off of this deal.” Poteete declined to share exactly what percentage of the proceeds Welch is receiving, but says he suggested she trademark the phrase, and she has been in touch with a lawyer about it. He also says she is currently represented by an agent, though rumors that she had signed with Hollywood powerhouse UTA turned out to be unfounded.