Yes, the Hawk Tuah girl and meme refuses to go away. Gen A and the zoomers have stopped caring. The tide has shifted so heavily against her that she is is the butt of the joke, not the joke itself now (more jokes).
It was predictable the moment she started a Twitter account and started sucking up the quasi-alt-right side of it, and it was inevitable the moment she created a podcast called "Talk Tuah" with Jake Paul's gambling website.
In fairness, I am late in saying this. Slate made an article in June about her being co-opted by the right-wing, but this was more lamenting the loss, framing it as how Democrats are losing the social media game. Since then, Biden has left the Presidential race, Kamala has taken over, and her social media team have changed the rhetoric entirely, leaning extensively into Gen-Z humour1. "Kamala IS Brat" far outweighs any potential benefit of Welch.
But I understand how Slate got there. If Hailey had the zeitgeist of young people, then it would be a loss that she was co-opted by the Republican media complex. But she isn't. She can't be. Unlike Adin Ross, she isn't edgy, she isn't tapped into youth culture. He presents an actual problem in terms of capturing the youth zeitgest.
Hailey got co-opted by the boomer side of the complex. She isn't convincing anyone new, but is just a pretty face for older right-wingers to stare at and pretend as if they've gotten the attention of the kids. In that sense, she's a fantastic catfish.
Hailey Welch on Twitter
Hailey Welch on Twitter
Her entirely persona at the minute is pandering to the biggest losers on the planet. But the problem is, that makes you a loser.
Creating a talk podcast? About as late-stage loser millennial as it gets.
This isn't to say that she won't continue to be a "media personality", or whatever we called the pool of washed up has-beens that TV shows call up. Or whatever combination of Cameo/brand deal/OnlyFans/Patreon she uses to milk the people who are desperately hanging onto her. She will, and she'll probably make a decent penny out of it, too. (Vulture has the same take.)
But the youth have already moved past her.
So, go on Hailey. Stand in front of your vaguely right-wing audience, and say Hawk Tuah again, do it, do it with your mouth.
Hell, they're so deep they're creating literal brainrot ads. âŠī¸
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