Did The Hawk Tuah Girl Get Fired?

For the last week, the internet’s favorite soundbite was Hawk Tuah, and it came with a side of drama no one saw coming.

Hailey Welsh, the woman who was captured on camera confronting a stranger (Youtuber) on the street in a viral video, was the subject of numerous news articles with headlines stating that she had been fired from her job and here I am to dismiss this fake news.

Fact-check:

No, the Hawk Tuah girl was not fired. A post by a fake news site known as “Tippah County Tribune” which claimed that the Hawk Tuah girl, who is a preschool teacher, had been fired because of the viral video created this frenzy which is completely wrong.

This post was a work of fiction, including a quote from a school that does not exist in real life, but it became popular on the Internet, and social media users started sharing the fake news.

Snopes and The Daily Dot were among the fact-checking sites that pointed out that, fortunately, Hailey Welsh did not lose her job for her actions as nobody knows if she's even working as a preschool teacher or not.

However, one firing was linked to the “Hawk Tuah” meme.

The Daily Mail also reported that a social media manager for JD Motorsports, a NASCAR team, was fired after sharing a meme that relates to the video.

Here's what he posted:

Here's when he shared the "getting fired" news:

Dorman "social media manager for JD Motorsports, a NASCAR team" shared on X that he had been removed from JD socials and had to delete the post about Hawk Tuah girl meme.

This raises the question of the gap between what is trending on social media platforms and what is expected of any person in a professional capacity especially when handling official social media accounts.

Thus, Hailey Welsh can revel in her newfound internet stardom without fear of losing her source of income as she's now selling hats and more on her viral Instagram account, while the “Hawk Tuah” incident is a cautionary tale of the fine line between viral trends and the actual workplace.

So, next time you are posting something related to a viral trend on the internet, make sure you remember the social media manager of JD Motorsports.