Drugs, Lawsuits, and Drama? Yeah, ‘Pawn Stars’ Is Dealing With More Than Just Rare Finds

The family dynamic in Pawn Stars has always been one of the show’s biggest entertainment factors. Watching three generations of the Harrison family running the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop together brought in an element of relatability that balanced out the show’s otherwise informative nature.

While Rick Harrison was the center of Pawn Stars, his father, Richard Harrison, laid the foundations of their family business, and his son, Corey Harrison, is responsible for taking their legacy forward. Unfortunately, though, the show’s warm, family-first image might just be for the cameras.

The Harrison Family Feud Affects the Show’s Credibility

In early 2022, Rick was sued by his own mother, Joanne Harrison, in a lawsuit that revealed years of tension between the two. Joanne, who was 81 at the time, accused her son of taking her stake in the pawn shop away from her. What’s worse is that Joanne claims all of this happened when she was in a coma in the early 2000s. As per local news station, Wane, her lawsuit states that Rick had her sign over her 51% share in the business while she was still recovering at the hospital. According to Joanne, Rick took over complete control of the pawn shop after Richard died in 2018 and started cutting her out of financial decisions as well as profit distributions.

Rick went on the record to deny all the accusations and blamed others for manipulating his elderly mother. However, the situation escalated when Joanne filed a temporary restraining order to prevent her son from selling off their family assets without her approval. After all of this came to light, fans didn’t know if Rick was the same family man he appeared to be on the show. While Pawn Stars continues to air with Rick still front and center, it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room and root for the family business when their relationships with each other are so fractured.

Chumlee’s Distrurbing Legal Troubles Taint His Image as a Fan-Favorite

Image via History.com

Pawn Stars has also been plagued by a history of shocking drug-related issues that have tainted the show’s cast. Most fans will agree that Austin “Chumlee” Russell has remained a fan favorite at the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. Not only is he the much-needed comedic relief that the show needs, but Chumlee is also the most relatable member of the cast. While some might write him off as the lovable idiot on Pawn Stars, Chumlee is pretty great at what he does. Considered to be one of the most thorough appraisers on the show, Chumlee has consistently surprised his employers and the audience with his knowledge.

That’s probably why it was such a shock when the reality star’s Las Vegas home was raided as part of a sexual assault investigation back in 2016, as reported by USA Today. While he was never charged for sexual misconduct due to a lack of evidence, the police found several drugs including meth and marijuana along with illegal firearms in his home. The reality star accepted a plea deal to avoid ending up behind bars. His involvement in such a huge scandal was obviously a major blow to the show and its brand. The problem was that Pawn Stars practically thrived on portraying the average American, whose life was rooted in honest work and old-school values, and all of that was directly contradicted when Chumlee was arrested.

Is ‘Pawn Stars’ Faking Everything for Ratings?

After all the legal troubles that the cast of Pawn Stars was involved in, many fans took to Reddit to question the authenticity of the show. Many of them claimed that the famous History Channel show isn’t filmed in a real pawn shop at all! According to a user, the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop is actually way too tiny to fit in an entire camera crew. While the Harrisons’ business is definitely real and successful, they had the producers build a larger replica of the location to handle all the chaos of filming.

Casino.org also reported the same and revealed that as the show started gaining popularity, fans started crowding the space to catch a glimpse of the cast, which is what led to the construction of the lookalike set. However, that means all the background customers in every episode are just unpaid extras, and the sellers are pre-screened for each episode. While the rationale behind it all seems understandable, the revelation does come as a huge shock to the fans who were tuning in for what they believed was unscripted reality. After all, if the cast is willing to fake their entire store, who’s to say they are telling the truth about their million-dollar deals?

Pawn Stars is available to stream on Netflix.