Another day, another heated debate diving the internet! This time around, Hulu‘s new football comedy, Chad Powers, finds itself at the center of casting drama taking over TikTok and Instagram feeds.
Co-created by Michael Waldron and Glen Powell, Chad Powers tells the story of Russ Holliday (Powell), a superstar quarterback whose career comes to a disastrous halt. Eight years after getting canceled, Holliday uses prosthetics to disguise himself as Chad Powers, walks on to tryouts, and gets a second chance at a pro football career as a South Georgia Catfish QB.
The two-episode premiere on Tuesday, September 30 covered a lot of ground, and it even included a surprise cameo from internet star, Haliey Welch, aka the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” who went viral in 2024. Powell’s character excitedly meets her in a club, recites her classic “Spit on that thang!” advice, and turns her off so much that she asks him not to tell anyone they met. It was a random, funny, oddly relevant appearance. (They’re both high-profile people who experienced downfalls, after all!) But when comedian Brittney Rae Carrera posted a video to her social accounts claiming that Chad Powers unknowingly replaced her with Hawk Tuah, fans started to question the lighthearted cameo.
ICYMI: Carrera, a 31-year-old comedian, writer, actor, and director, shared footage from her Chad Powers watch party to TikTok and Instagram. The video shows her friends gathered in front of the television, allegedly waiting to behold her Chad Powers debut. Instead of seeing Carrera on screen, however, when Welch’s scenes begin, an emotional Carrera pauses the episode and screams, “THEY REPLACED ME WITH HAWK TUAH?!”
“Oh fuck,” someone at the party says, as Carrera claims Welch’s big scene was supposed to be hers. “This is literally my scene,” she says. “This is my fucking scene! They replaced me with Hawk Tuah! They were not in the scene! They were not in the scene!”
As Carrera’s friends stare at the TV in silence, some still recording on their phones, a distraught Carrera says, “Oh my god,” and friends being to console her and encourage her to turn the TV off. She walks away, tears a flag off her wall that features a photo of Glen Powell and his dog Biscuit, and leaves the room screaming.
So is Carrera telling the truth? Was she actually “replaced by Hawk Tuah” and shocked to learn about the recasting as she and her pals watched on Tuesday night? Or was this yet another comedy video that’s tricking followers, because Carrera is a good actor, and her and her pals seriously committed to the bit?
Before we dive in, we can’t emphasize this enough: If it’s on the internet, question it! The amount of misinformation spreading like wildfire online — as a result of AI, straight-up lies, satire, or whatever else it may be — is outrageous. So regardless of the outcome, let Carrera’s video serve as a friendly reminder to be diligent, do your own research, and don’t take everything you see online at face value.
So what’s the deal with this specific post? Despite her comedy and acting backgrounds, it’s worth noting that the comment sections on Carrera’s Instagram and TikTok videos do feature quite a bit of sympathy, disbelief, and outrage over her surprise recasting claims, which suggests some people genuinely believes they’re rooted in truth. On top of supportive comments, on December 28, 2024, Carrera posted an Instagram carousel that included a Chad Powers teaser, and what appear to be photos of her in her trailer and a Chad Powers casting list that features her name. So if the claims are just a joke, this girl’s been COMMITTED for literal months.
On September 30, she posted even more photos of her in wardrobe, Glen Powell’s wig in the hair and makeup trailer, another cast list shot, a photo of the outside of her trailer (labeled “CLUB GIRL”), and more photos that heavily imply she was, in fact, on set for Chad Powers. Plus, she captioned the post, “Chad Powers premieres tonight on @hulu !! I got to fly to Atlanta and be funny with the legend Glen Powell in this show and it was awesome !!! ???????????????? football.”
It’s also worth noting that Carerra’s IMDb bio reads, “Brittney is known for her TV/FILM work ( HULU’S CHAD POWERS opposite Glen Powell,” though the series isn’t currently credited as an acting role on her main page.
Since Carerra does act, has a major online presence, and has credited appearances in 43 other movies and series, including NBC’s Found, it makes sense that she could have been cast on Chad Powers. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for actors who land small roles to be recast or have their scenes cut, and sometimes not even find out until they watch the project. And compared to Carerra’s 250,000 Instagram followers, Welch has 2.3 million, so if Welch became available to shoot after Carerra already filmed, I doubt the Chad Powers team would have passed up the opportunity to include a flashier cameo.
When asked about Welch’s cameo in an LATimes interview, Waldron said, “As far as Hailey, we were just thinking about, ‘Who is someone else who was defined by a single viral moment and now lives in the shadow of that?’ And of course, she’s a great contemporary version of that. We just reached out and she was incredibly game. I don’t think she acted before, and she showed up and was great, was so funny. It was fun to work with her. I think we were all a little starstruck.”
So are Carerra’s claims that she was originally cast false? Or did Waldron fail to mention they cast someone else before Welch was onboard? In an interview with People, Welsh noted that “they ended up changing [the script] a bit,” which sounds like it supports Carerra’s recasting claims.
The major source of doubt against Carerra, is, of course, that she’s a COMEDIAN who regularly posts unserious videos. We can’t discount the possibility that this may be an elaborate, very well-acted ruse. However, in the hours since Carerra uploaded her video to Instagram, 7NEWS Australia “Exclusively” re-shared her footage with the caption, “Footage has emerged of actress Brittney Rae Carrera finding out she was replaced in Glen Powell’s new series Chad Powers with Haliey Wech, the ‘Hawk Tuah’ girl. Sources exclusively told 7NEWS the recasting came following Carrera having ‘not enough followers.'”
Despite the official news outlet sharing the footage, the comment section on 7NEWS Australia’s post still shows viewers casting serious doubt on the validity of Carerra’s claims, referencing the comedic nature of content she typically creates and shares.
“I don’t know what’s funnier. The fact the original video was satire or that 7news thinks this is important,” one user wrote. “You realise this is staged by Brittney, shes an insta comedy scenario actress. Shes so believable in all her content but its all staged ???? she got you good!,” another commented. “Are you really reporting skits as news now? We are all doomed,” a third commenter questioned.
Even on Carerra’s own posts, there are traces of doubt, with one Instagram user bluntly writing, “Isn’t this whole account satire? lol he’s a good actress though.” In response to Carerra’s watch party Instagram video, sketch and stand-up comedian Paul Maland wrote, “Actually so shook lol was a nice watch party until then.” And actor Gianni Paolo added, “Im literally dying I love u im sorry.” So you have to ask, were Carrera’s pals in on the joke?
The discouraging truth is that whether or not Carrera’s post is a premeditated performative moment or a genuine reaction simply isn’t clear from the footage. Decider has reached out to both Carrera and Hulu for comment and will update this article when (if?) we hear back.
If Carrera’s video was all in the name of comedy, it was not only a major conversation starter, but a long, elaborate, quite frankly impressive con. And if she’s telling the truth, then what the heck, Chad Powers?!
New episodes of Chad Powers premiere Tuesdays on Hulu.