The One Request That Pawn Stars' Chumlee Won't Grant On Cameo - Exclusive

The video messaging service Cameo has provided a great new way for celebrities to connect with their fans, whether it be a simple birthday greeting or another special message delivered straight from star to fan. It's been an especially useful tool for celebs during the COVID-19 pandemic, either to break up the monotony of being in quarantine, to get donations for a pet cause or, since many film and television productions shut down, to make some quick cash to keep the bills paid.

For Austin "Chumlee" Russell of the hit reality series Pawn Stars, Cameo has been something more than a simple revenue stream. He frequently uses it to give back to the people who made him who he is today by tuning into History for his show. In an exclusive interview with Looper to talk about season 18 of Pawn Stars and more, Chumlee explained what kinds of messages he's done, and why it's important to make those messages affordable for people. So long as the request isn't bizarre, Chumlee said, he'll "pretty much do anything," and "tell bad jokes, whatever — just keep it P.C. is my main thing."

"Most people just want me to have fun and say hi to someone or 'Happy Birthday,' and make them feel special. So that's fairly easy to do," Chumlee revealed to Looper. "They give me a little bit of information, and I read it beforehand, I try to personalize it a little bit. But the thing for me is, I always try to continue to set my prices. Sometimes I'll do a dollar price like, 'Hey, Cameos for a dollar,' and I'll run it for a day or two. That way people will get them."

If he's busy Chumlee said he "will raise the price." If he has some down time, though, down goes the cost of his Cameo appearances. "A lot of times if I'm just hanging out at home for a couple of days, I lower it down and give everyone a chance to get one that couldn't afford one," Chumlee said. "So, it's great. I love it. It's a great way to give back." 

There is one kind of Cameo he's not too keen on, however.

There's no doubt celebrities have limitations on what sort of Cameo they will record for people, and for Chumlee, he draws the line at endorsements for businesses.

"People will want me to do weird businesses request, businesses that I can't put my name behind and stuff like that," the pawn star shared with Looper. "Or, people will be like, 'Hey, can you shout-out my album and go tell people to buy it?' And honestly, I would love to shout-out your album and tell people to buy it, but without listening to the content behind it, [it's] something that I just wouldn't be comfortable doing ... There's some weird lines where I wish I could do, but without putting my full ear into your album, I would have to listen to it before I could tell other people to go buy it."

New episodes of Pawn Stars season 18, as well as previous seasons, are available on History.