When news broke earlier this week that Frank Fritz had been hospitalized after a stroke, it was his former TV partner Mike Wolfe who shared the news with the fans. At the time, Wolfe had asked people to give them some space in regards to the “opinions” about he and “Frank’s friendship” that have been touted online in the months following Fritz's firing from American Pickers. Unfortunately, fans had the exact opposite reaction.
American Pickers fans have been disgruntled about Frank and Mike breaking up for months now. In a series of comments on the Instagram post, fans still shared their feelings about the two stars’ former TV friendship. Some even openly shared their thoughts about how the two need to make amends, noting things like, “Make amends Mike, now's the time.” On Facebook, another wrote "Why the concern now, Mike? You weren’t worried before."
Comments like these go along with what some “fans” have been more aggressively saying on Twitter after Mike Wolfe broke the news. One regular post about American Pickers even features a slew of comments from people trolling Mike over Frank’s exit, with comments like this being very apparent:
Yeah filmed for 13 years and stabbed your best friend Frank in the back. I honestly don’t know how you sleep at night. You let the little bit of fame go to your head, the show is nothing without frank and you know it.
There are several more comments like this one on the Twitter post, and other comments across social media. However, I do think it is worth noting this isn’t the majority of people. Lots of people have liked Wolfe’s post in support, including Jason Momoa – who will appear opposite Mike Wolfe in an upcoming episode of his own road tripping series. A large swathe of fans sent prayer emojis and more comments on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, including hopeful messages like “Prayers for all of you” and positive messages like “appreciate this on so many levels.”
Yet, because some fans did not react so positively to the post, it’s pretty easy to see why Mike Wolfe probably felt the need to add the caveat about now not being the “time to set the record straight” on what happened on American Pickers. A lot of people are still really not letting Frank Fritz’s exit go and the current History channel star is still hearing about it seemingly consistently.
In support of his client, Mike Wolfe’s rep also spoke out after some of these negative fan comments were made. He said, “The most important thing is that we allow him time to heal and giving [sic] him the space to do so.” Hopefully, that will happen in the days moving forward.
We’ll absolutely keep you updated if more information breaks about Frank’s condition. Neither Frank Fritz nor his reps have spoken publicly about his stroke at this time.
