Shaquille O’Neal Helps “Hawk Tuah” Girl With Angel Reese-Like Advice as Newfound Fame Takes Its Toll

It still feels like the fever dream of crossovers as more details pour in. Hailey Welch’s newfound fame as the ‘Hawk Tuah’ girl resulted in a chance encounter with 7’1″ of meme greatness, Shaquille O’Neal. The duo ran into each other in Nashville over the past weekend and had the Internet wilding with the revelation. On the surface, it was His Memeness meeting the reigning social media wonder. Now it’s revealed that it was a much more meaningful meetup with Shaq being the perfect mentor to have to navigate fame. Something which he did for Angel Reese as well.

Hailey Welch popped up on Zach Bryan’s show in Nashville, where Shaq spotted her. He arranged for a meeting through his team and they met up at JBJ’s, Jon Bon Jovi’s bar and restaurant in Music City. According to sources close to both, Shaq and Welch partied at the newly opened celebrity joint and O’Neal invited her to his DJ gig. But that wasn’t all.

Sources told TMZ that the duo chatted for at least an hour and they came out of it as friends. O’Neal conveyed that he cared for her amid her sudden rise to fame. He advised her to keep a team of smart and reliable people who would help her manage her fame and business. And he also cautioned her to be wary of people coming out of the woodwork to take advantage of her.

Relying on a team of smart people has been Shaq’s policy while building a $500 million worth empire. And it’s something he advocates for every entrepreneur or new celebrity. It’s something Welch could take heed of.

Welch found fame from a chance appearance on a street interview for a YouTube channel. Her response to an explicit question was her onomatopoeic interpretation of spitting in spite aka ‘Hawk Tuah.’ It went viral unintentionally but she capitalized on it. This meet-up with Shaq had some fans relating it to the Big Aristotle’s relationship with Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese.

Shaquille O’Neal is a fun mentor to have

Shaquille O’Neal has given similar advice to Angel Reese, who has dealt with her fair share of negativity since her successful NCAA run. After a prolonged absence last year, her return was marred by negative rumors. She credited Shaq for helping her tune out the noise and now she says he’s mentoring her to become an entrepreneur after her pro WNBA career.

As the President of Reebok’s Basketball division, O’Neal signed Reese as its first signature athlete. He even accompanied her on her senior night at LSU. In many ways, O’Neal plays the role of a big brother to Reese. Like Reese, Welch’s fame has had both highs and lows.

She collaborated with Fathead Threads to launch a collection with her signature phrase. She’s sold $65,000 worth of merch already. However, with the fame came several falsehoods circulated about her. The Tennessee resident dispelled those rumors on the Plan Bri Uncut podcast while claiming she was ready to become stale news already. She’s enjoying her celebrity encounters till then. Like jumping into the JBJ’s DJ booth with Shaq. And she didn’t mind that he stepped on her toes, either.

Stay tuned for more such update. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.