No, CNN didn’t report that 75,000 voters wrote in ‘Hawk Tuah’ and ‘Talk Tuah’

President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 election against Vice President Kamala Harris, but some social media users are saying the two candidates lost thousands of votes to "Huak Tuak girl" Hailey Welch, who became a social media star after a street interview featuring her went viral.

Multiple Instagram accounts shared a screenshot of what appeared to be a Nov. 6 CNN Politics headline that read, "Over 75,000 of the counted votes were write-ins for ‘Hawk Tuah’ and ‘Talk Tuah.’" "Talk Tuah" is Welch’s podcast.

Screenshot from Instagram

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But the headline is bogus. "It’s a fake and fabricated image. CNN never reported that," CNN spokesperson Emily Kuhn told PolitiFact.

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stated on October 26, 2024 in social media posts

An old photo shows Kamala Harris in a McDonald’s uniform.

The story did not show up in search results for "Hawk Tuah" on CNN’s website. The fabricated image says CNN reporter Stephen Collinson wrote the story, but the article is not on his CNN author page.

Welch gained fame in June after she was featured in a viral person-on-the-street interview in which she described an act she associated with oral sex. Following its popularity, Welch sold more than $65,000 in "Hawk Tuah" merchandise and launched her own podcast with sports media and betting company Betr.

We rate the claim that a CNN headline says "75,000 votes were write-ins for ‘Hawk Tuah’ and ‘Talk Tuah,’" Pants on Fire!