Internet rumors have been spreading that Les Gold has died, but this third-generation pawnbroker is still alive and kicking.
Hardcore Pawn ended quite a few years ago, but the show still has many loyal fans who keep up with its cast to this day.
For this reason, Seth Gold quickly takes to TikTok whenever he has to dispel the frequently reoccurring rumors that his father, Les, has passed away.
All about Hardcore Pawn
Hardcore Pawn first started airing on truTV all the way back in 2010. The series quickly attracted a loyal following of fans, who tuned in weekly to watch various valuable, strange and unexpected goods show up at the family-operated American Jewelry and Loan pawn shop in Detroit.
Bedsides all of the weird and wonderful items (and would-be sellers) who managed to make their way to the American Jewelry and Loan shop, Hardcore Pawn also showcased some of the complex and interesting family dynamics at play behind the scenes between Les Gold (the shop owner) and his two children, Seth Gold and Ashley Gold Broad.
What happened to Les on Hardcore Pawn?
The final Hardcore Pawn episode first aired almost a decade ago on April 6, 2015, but that does not mean that fans of the show stopped caring about Les, Seth and Ashley, all these years down the line.
In 2023, several posts claiming that Les Gold, the patriarch of Hardcore Pawn’s beloved Gold family and longtime pawnbroker, died have been spread haphazardly across many different corners of the internet.
But Seth and the rest of the Gold family have dispelled all these rumors and have confirmed that Les is still alive and well in 2023.
The first video claiming that Les had passed away surfaced on TikTok in April 2023, and featured a video-compilation with the caption “R.I.P Les Gold 1950-2023.” But since then, many other similar posts have surfaced on other platforms as well.
Fortunately though, it did not take long for Seth to clear up the confusion surrounding his father’s supposed death.
Seth has taken to the video-sharing platform, TikTok, multiple times after hearing that fans had been upset by a “death-hoax” and has showed Les alive and well – and busy working, as usual.
The most recent video, which Seth posted just a few months ago on May 3, 2023 even ended with Les exasperatedly stating “I ain’t dead”, before walking out of the shot, presumably on his way home after work.
What Seth has been up to since the show ended
While Hardcore Pawn was still airing, most of the show’s reoccurring fights happened between the two Gold siblings as they continually struggled to gain the power to make decisions about what would be best for the business.
However, it seems like Seth ultimately won this fight, as he is still the co-owner of American Jewelry and Loan. Moreover, he works hard to maintain this business’s success to this day.
What Ashley has been up to since the show ended
One of the biggest questions that remained when Hardcore Pawn ended in 2015 was whether Ashley would follow through on her desire to leave the family business behind.
Fans who have followed the Gold family closely after the show ended may already know that Ashley did end up leaving American Jewelry and Loan and started her own jewelry business called “Ashley Gold” in the same year.
However, she did admit in a 2021 interview with Deadline Detroit’s Allan Lengel, that she does not shy away from asking her father for his advice, even though she has now been running her brand successfully for many years.
Les is still working at American Jewelry and Loan
Pawn brokerage runs in the blood of the Gold family and Les is actually a third-generation pawnbroker.
This is likely why, even at the age of 73, Les has still not retired from the pawn business and is still actively involved in the day-to-day operations of American Jewelry and Loan.
Les has not posted on his own Instagram page since 2015, but Seth’s TikTok page is considerably more active and even posts some behind-the-scenes details of how Les is doing these days.
A recent TikTok video, which Seth posted on September 8, 2023, revealed that even though Les seems to have hurt his leg, he is still actively contributing to the shop (and he is still dealing with Seth’s unending watchband jokes).
The rest of Seth’s social media posts are filled with photos of him, Les and Ashley spending time together, which reaffirms that the Gold family is still very close, even though the show no longer binds them together.
