Tim Dickerson and DeArius Marlow are responsible for exposing the “Hawk Tuah” Girl to the world.
The content creators, who go by Tim & Dee TV, interviewed Haliey Welch on that famed night in Nashville, birthing a phenomenon. But, while Welch has gone on to become a celebrity, they have hardly received any recognition.
Dickerson and Marlow spoke to the New York Times in a recent interview in which they revealed having filed 50 copyright claims to secure the rights to their video. They have also had to file several complaints about their watermark being removed by other social media users who shared the clip.
The hosts are also displeased by fans treating them as if they were non-existent before the “Hawk Tuah” took the internet by storm. “Had we not interviewed Welch at the bar scene in Nashville in June, she would have never gone viral,” Marlow said.
He did admit that Welch asked them to “spice up the questions,” which eventually led to the viral moment.
Yall definitely need to be paid some type of royalties from this chick bros! If it wasn’t for yall she wouldn’t have been able to quit her job!!
— unreverse (@unoreverseda) July 10, 2024
“At the end of the day, nobody would know who she was if we didn’t bring it to light and post it,” he added. “A lot of the audience who hadn’t seen us before think we grew off this one clip. People were treating it like we’re nobodies and didn’t already have a platform.”
Tim and Dee Hoping To Collaborate With The “Hawk Tuah” Girl Following Her Massive Success
Dickerson and Marlow are hoping to further collaborate with Haliey and have contacted her lawyer but have not heard back.
The “Hawk Tuah” girl got to perform with Zach Bryan, chiled with Shaq, and gets paid at least $30K per appearance, all because of that one interview. The creators are looking to get theirs now.
“Such is life in the viral content mill,” The NYT notes. “Mr. Dickerson and Mr. Marlow have seen their videos take off online before — though, they admit, never at this scale — and they figure it will happen again.
“They have more videos coming soon. And Mr. Marlow said he thought there could be future collaborations with Ms. Welch: He was in touch with her lawyer.”
