Jonathan Joss, an actor on “King of the Hill” who voiced John Redcorn, died in a shooting on Sunday, San Antonio police confirmed to Variety. He was 59.
San Antonio officers were dispatched to a shooting in progress at a home on Sunday night around 7 p.m. When they arrived at the scene, they found Joss near the road after he was shot multiple times. The officers attempted life-saving measures until medics arrived, but Joss was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooter fled in a vehicle but was detained by officers a block away and booked for murder. The investigation is still ongoing. TMZ, which broke the news, reported that Joss was shot by a neighbor after a disagreement.
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In a statement on Joss’ Facebook page, the actor’s husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, alleged that Joss and him were targets of homophobic harassment and that their house burned down “after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire.” De Gonzales wrote that Joss was “murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other.”
“My husband Jonathan Joss and I were involved in a shooting while checking the mail at the site of our former home. That home was burned down after over two years of threats from people in the area who repeatedly told us they would set it on fire. We reported these threats to law enforcement multiple times and nothing was done,” de Gonzales wrote. “Throughout that time we were harassed regularly by individuals who made it clear they did not accept our relationship. Much of the harassment was openly homophobic. When we returned to the site to check our mail we discovered the skull of one of our dogs and its harness placed in clear view. This caused both of us severe emotional distress. We began yelling and crying in response to the pain of what we saw. While we were doing this a man approached us. He started yelling violent homophobic slurs at us. He then raised a gun from his lap and fired. Jonathan and I had no weapons. We were not threatening anyone. We were grieving. We were standing side by side. When the man fired Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life.”
Joss voiced John Redcorn from Season 2 through Season 13 of “King of the Hill” and already recorded lines for the upcoming revival of the popular animated series. He’ll be seen in Episode 2 of the show’s upcoming Season 14, and possibly more episodes beyond that. (Joss took over the role from original actor Victor Aaron after he died in 1996 in a car accident.)
“Jonathan Joss brought ‘King of the Hill’s’ ‘John Redcorn’ to life for over a dozen seasons, including in the upcoming revival,” said “King of the Hill” creators Mike Judge, Greg Daniels and Saladin Patterson in a joint statement. “His voice will be missed at ‘King of the Hill,’ and we extend our deepest condolences to Jonathan’s friends and family.”
Joss was most recently seen in public on Friday during a “King of the Hill” reunion/revival panel at the ATX Television Festival in Austin. Midway through the panel, as producers Judge and Daniels discussed the death of original star and writer Johnny Hardwick, Joss approached an audience microphone unannounced and mentioned Hardwick before expressing displeasure at not being invited onstage. He also told the crowd that he had recently lost his home in San Antonio to a fire. After a few moments, he returned to his seat and the panel resumed.
“King of the Hill” was created by Judge and Daniels in 1997 on Fox. It ran until 2009 and aired more than 250 episodes. More than a decade later, a revival of the show is set to premiere on Hulu on Aug. 4, it was revealed last week.
Joss also had a recurring role in “Parks and Recreation” as Chief Ken Hotate and appeared in films and shows like “Tulsa King,” “Ray Donovan,” “True Grit,” “The Magnificent Seven” and more.
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