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Theres a reason Haliey Welch seemingly vanished from the internet overnight: Shes the focus of an upcoming documentary exploring her meteoric riseand dramatic fallfrom viral fame. The 22-year-old influencer will be the subject of an upcoming documentary from Emmy-winning production company Bungalow Media + Entertainment, according to Deadline. The documentary will chronicle how Welch, a young woman from a small town with no active social media presence, unknowingly created a viral moment that gave way to a global phenomenon, per a press release shared with the outlet. The documentary will focus on Welch’s “unexpected rise to fame, the scrutiny that followed,” and will expose “the incredible power social media has to crown and crucify its internet darlings, the press release continued. Welch became a viral sensation after her video interview was uploaded by the Tim & Dee TV YouTube channel, where she responded to one of their questions with the now-iconic hawk tuah catchphrase. With only a single sentence, Haliey Welch went from an unknown young woman having a night out on the town to enjoying 15 minutes of fame to global phenomenon who cemented her status in the pop culture lexicon. There are very few people who know what it is like to achieve this level of fame and live under the 24/7 microscope known as social media, Bob Friedman, producer and CEO at Bungalow Media + Entertainment, said in a statement. He adds that the documentary will chronicle Welchs journey as well as explore the highs and lows of living in the public eye. After her viral moment, Welch parlayed her 15 minutes into a business empire, launching merchandise, the Talk Tuah podcast, and a Gen Z-targeted dating app called Pookie Tools. In early December, Welch announced that she would be releasing her own cryptocurrency memecoin called $HAWK, which quickly tanked and caused Welch to disappear from the internet in a cloud of controversy. I hope yall been enjoying the crazy stories about my life unfold on social media, Welch said in a statement about the upcoming documentary. First, I was dead. Then pregnant. Now Im wanted by Interpol and in jail! Luckily, weve been working with Bungalow to start spilling the tea and the truth is actually even more bizarre than you think. To get the full story, fans will have to be patient. Release details for the documentary have yet to be announced.
Category:
E-Commerce
The head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Friday said he is opening an investigation into the diversity practices of Walt Disney and its ABC unit, saying they may violate U.S. equal employment opportunity regulations. FCC Chair Brendan Carr wrote Disney CEO Robert Iger in a letter dated Thursday that the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts may not have complied with FCC regulations and that changes by the company may not go far enough. “I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,” Carr wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters. He has sent letters to Comcast and Verizon announcing similar probes into diversity practices. “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commissions letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions,” a Disney spokesperson said. Disney recently revised its executive compensation policies to remove diversity and inclusion as a performance metric, adding a new standard called “talent strategy,” aimed at upholding the companys values. Carr said FCC’s Enforcement Bureau will be engaging with Disney “to obtain an accounting of Disney and ABCs DEI programs, policies, and practices.” Carr, who was designed chair by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, has been aggressively investigating media companies. In December, ABC News agreed to give $15 million to Trumps future presidential library to settle a lawsuit over comments that anchor George Stephanopoulos made on air involving the civil case brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll. Days after Carr took over as chair, the FCC reinstated complaints about the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, as well as complaints about how ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump. It also reinstated complaints against Comcast’s NBC for allowing Harris to appear on “Saturday Night Live” shortly before the election. Trump has sued CBS for $20 billion, claiming that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited the interview in order to interfere in the November presidential election, which he won. CBS, which is owned by Paramount Global, this week called on the FCC to dismiss the complaint “without delay,” but Carr quickly rejected the idea, saying the investigation would continue. David Shepardson and Dawn Chmielewski, Reuters
Category:
E-Commerce
Trevor Milton, the founder of electric vehicle start-up Nikola who was sentenced to prison last year for fraud, was pardoned by President Donald Trump, the White House confirmed Friday. The pardon of Milton, who was sentenced to four years in prison for exaggerating the potential of his technology, could wipe out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution that prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors. Milton, 42, and his wife donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election campaign fund less than a month before the November election, according to the Federal Election Commission. At Milton’s trial, prosecutors say a company video of a prototype truck appearing to be driven down a desert highway was actually a video of a nonfunctioning Nikola that had been rolled down a hill. Milton had not been incarcerated pending an appeal. Milton said late Thursday on social media that he had been pardoned by Trump. “I am incredibly grateful to President Trump for his courage in standing up for what is right and for granting me this sacred pardon of innocence, Milton said. The White House confirmed the pardon Friday, though there was no notice of a pardon on the White House website. When asked by a reporter in a news conference Friday why he pardoned Milton, Trump said it was highly recommended by many people. Trump suggested that Milton was prosecuted because he supported the president. They say the the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people that supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president, Trump said. Trump went on to say that Milton did nothing wrong and that the Southern District of New York’s prosecutors were a vicious group of people. During his securities fraud case, Milton was defended by two lawyers with connections to Trump: Marc Mukasey, who has represented the Trump Organization; and Brad Bondi, the brother of Pam Bondi, who Trump appointed as U.S. Attorney General. Trump wasted little time in using his pardon power since beginning his second term. Hours after taking office, he wiped clean the records of roughly 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The next day, Trump announced that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, an underground website for selling drugs. Ulbricht had been sentenced to life in prison in 2015 after a high-profile prosecution that highlighted the role of the internet in illegal markets. Nikola, which was a hot start-up and rising star on Wall Street before becoming enmeshed in scandal, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. Milton, convicted of fraud, was portrayed by prosecutors as a con man six years after he had founded the company in a basement in Utah. Prosecutors said Milton falsely claimed to have built its own revolutionary truck that was actually a General Motors product with Nikolas logo stamped onto it. Called as a government witness, Nikolas CEO testified that Milton was prone to exaggeration when pitching his venture to investors. Milton resigned in 2020 amid reports of fraud that sent Nikolas stock prices into a tailspin. Investors suffered heavy losses as reports questioned Miltons claims that the company had already produced zero-emission 18-wheel trucks. The company paid $125 million in 2021 to settle a civil case against it by the SEC. Nikola didnt admit any wrongdoing. The U.S. District Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted the case, declined to comment on Miltons pardon. At the time of his conviction U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, Trevor Milton lied to investors again and again on social media, on television, on podcasts, and in print. But todays sentence should be a warning to start-up founders and corporate executives everywhere fake it till you make it is not an excuse for fraud, and if you mislead your investors, you will pay a stiff price. Matt Ott, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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