UPDATED with statement from husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales: Jonathan Joss, who voiced John Redcorn on multiple seasons of Fox’s animated series King of the Hill and in its upcoming revival, was shot and killed Sunday in San Antonio, police have confirmed.
Police say Joss, 59, was found shot near a roadway after officers were dispatched to the scene of a shooting in progress in the early evening hours. Police attempted life-saving measures, but paramedics pronounced Joss deceased.
A suspect, Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, 56, was located and eventually booked for murder, according to the police. The investigation is ongoing.
Joss, a native of San Antonio, had worked steadily as an actor since the mid-1990s, first appearing in the Luke Perry rodeo movie 8 Seconds. He worked in several TV movies and had an six-episode arc in the series Walker, Texas Ranger. His later TV credits includes Friday Night Lights, The League, Ray Donovan, In Plain Sight and Parks & Recreation.
He appeared in 34 episodes of King of the Hill, according to IMDb, and also voiced the John Redcorn character in the King of the Hill video game. It was one of several video game credits that also included voice work in Red Dead Redemption, The Walking Dead: Michonne, Days Gone, Cyberpunk 2077 and Wasteland 3.
“Jonathan Joss brought King of the Hill’s ‘John Redcorn’ to life for over a dozen seasons, including in the upcoming revival,” Mike Judge, Greg Daniels and Saladin Patterson said in a statement. “His voice will be missed at King of the Hill, and we extend our deepest condolences to Jonathan’s friends and family.”
On the film side, he appeared in the Coen brothers’ True Grit, Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven and 2021’s The Forever Purge.
Most recently, he played Bad Face on Paramount+’s Tulsa King.
After news of Jos’ killing broke, his husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales shared a lengthy, heartbreaking statement on Facebook, in which he detailed the events that preceded the shooting, saying it was the result of an anti-gay hate crime. He wrote that police did not take seriously the “openly homophobic” threats he and Joss — who is of Comanche and Apache descent — had been receiving for the past two years and that their home had been burned down after surrounding neighbors said they would do so.
Read the full statement below:
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.
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.
Jonathan is my husband. He gave me more love in our time together than most people ever get. We were newlyweds. We picked Valentines Day. We were in the process of looking for a trailer and planning our future.
He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other.
I was with him when he passed. I told him how much he was loved.
To everyone who supported him, his fans, his friends, know that he valued you deeply. He saw you as family.
My focus now is on protecting Jonathan’s legacy and honoring the life we built together.
If your concern is how someone coped with trauma or how loudly they speak when recounting injustice and being ignored by authorities then you never truly cared about my husband.
Jonathan saved my life. I will carry that forward. I will protect what he built.
– Tristan Kern de Gonzales
Gonzales, who tied the knot with Joss just months prior, also shared loving photos of him and the couple together. He added in a separate post that while he “deeply appreciate[s]” the support from people, several individuals have offered to cover the expenses for a celebration of life.
“I have absolutely no plans yet on that but I will try to keep everyone updated. There’s not a need to donate to the gofundme. But I want everyone to remember the joy and love Jonathan has brought and will continue to bring forever,” he wrote. “I have my essentials covered and our family in San Antonio is taking care of me until I get back to South Carolina. Instead of donating Jonathan and I would both rather you spread the word about the consistent injustice done to him, to us, and to our dogs. We had so many beautiful plans for the future.”
The post ‘King Of The Hill’ Actor Jonathan Joss’ Husband Says Fatal Shooting Came After “Openly Homophobic” Harassment & Home Arson appeared first on Deadline.
