Haliey Welch, otherwise known as the "Hawk Tuah Girl," has shared more information regarding the private messages she exchanged with rapper Yung Gravy, hours after he posted screenshots of their conversation.
Welch became a viral sensation in July after she was stopped by podcasters Tim and Dee during a night on the town in Nashville, Tennessee. When asked, "What's one move in bed that makes a man go crazy every time?" Welch replied: "You gotta give 'em that 'hawk tuah' and spit on that thing."
"Hawk tuah" is the sound someone makes while spitting.
The 22-year-old from Belfast, Tennessee, has since made several public appearances, including judging a bikini contest in Florida—for which she was reportedly paid $30,000—and a stop at the Rock the South festival in Alabama.
TMZ spoke with Welch about her rise to fame and inquired which celebrities had sent her direct messages since then. Welch responded that she had been contacted by musician Yung Gravy, 28.
When asked by her interviewer if Yung Gravy—whose real name is Matthew Raymond Hauri—was trying to "get with" her, Welch said of the star: "He wants to take me on a date. I was like, 'Nah, I don't know about that.'"
On Monday, Yung Gravy responded to a report on the matter by taking to X, formerly Twitter, to share a screenshot of their private Instagram conversation as he added in his caption that people "can't be nice anymore lol [laugh out loud]."
The screenshot showed Welch writing "Hello sir" to Yung Gravy at 1:44 a.m. on July 31. He replied several hours later at 11:53 a.m. to commend her on her rise to fame, as well as invite her to one of his shows.
"Damn I just looked at [your] page [you're] really out here doing this s*** lol congrats b," the rapper wrote, adding that "when I went to find [your] page i was [for real] just tryna salute [you] for being a certified top champ."
He continued: "Oh and this [ain't] me trying to finesse cause [I don't know your] mans situation <3 but I wanted to have [you] at a show next month to hear my country s***."
Per the screenshot, Welch asked Yung Gravy when the show would be, prompting him to respond that she "can pick one" of the dates, as he shared an image listing his shows.
Shortly after Yung Gravy's post gained traction, Welch shared screenshots of her own that showed the rapper initiating the conversation with "Hello maam" on July 29 at 10:38 p.m.
While most of the screenshot showed the conversation as depicted in Yung Gravy's post, Welch's version showed that after the "Betty" hitmaker told her that she could "pick" a show date, he asked her where she would be "posted at in August."
Per the post, he also sent her a Spotify link, writing: "There's some country gravy for ya."
"Close but no gravy," Welch captioned the screenshots.
One X user commented that Welch was "savage showing them receipts," prompting the internet star to respond that it was "only [because] he did it first."
A host of other X users debated whether the screenshots showed evidence that Yung Gravy had asked Welch out. Another wrote to Welch that there was "no reason to beef, Gravy is a good guy, you should meet him."
"No beef just having fun," Welch said in her reply.
Newsweek has contacted representatives of Welch and Yung Gravy for comment.
Yung Gravy also posted a video interview with TMZ that showed him admitting to initiating a direct message conversation with Welch on social media.
"I did slide in her DMs," he said. "I wanted to show her some love. I saw people hating on her and being mad negative. All she's doing is talking about sex and doing it the right way. That's what I do and no one's mad about that."
"I think I invited her to a show," Yung Gravy added. "I don't believe I mentioned a date."
Responding to questions on why Welch still said she would not be going on a date with him, Yung Gravy said: "Oh, well I didn't even ask her on a date."
Alongside her paid public appearances, Welch is rumored to have filed trademarks for "Hawk Tuah Sauce" and "Bet on That Thang"—the name of a proposed sports betting service—according to TMZ.
She has also hired a lawyer and a manager, as well as set up an Instagram account (@hay_welch) that has already racked up over 2 million followers.
The internet star has been fighting off requests to start an OnlyFans account. In a video to Instagram on July 3, Welch made it clear that she will "never" set one up.
"Stop asking me for the link in bio for my OnlyFans," she said. "I don't have an OnlyFans and there will never be an OnlyFans. I just—I just make funny jokes, that's all I do."
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