7d ago

Jonathan Joss, ‘King of the Hill’ actor who voiced John Redcorn, killed in shooting at 59; Husband says murder was motivated by homophobia

Jonathan Joss, ‘King of the Hill’ Actor Who Voiced John Redcorn, Dies in Shooting at 59

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.

In a statement on Joss’ Facebook page, his husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales said that Joss was “murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other.”

UPDATE Joss's husband made a statement on facebook after I created this post. Added context.

Ghazi @lemmy.blahaj.zone

squirrel @lemmy.blahaj.zone

7d ago

CW: Violent homophobia

Jonathan Joss, ‘King of the Hill’ Actor Who Voiced John Redcorn, Dies in Shooting at 59

variety.com /2025/tv/obituaries-people-news/jonathan-joss-dead-king-of-the-hill-shooting-1236415703/

50 comments

It was a hate crime. Statement from his husband, CW for gun violence, homophobia and violence against animals:
"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"
- Jesus Christ, what's there even to say to a story like this???
  
  As soon as I saw "shot by neighbour" I figured it would be bad but I had no clue how bad.
  
  This is the end goal for conservatives banning LGBTQI stuff. They want to other us, take away our visibility, and while we are vulnerable, pick us off one by one. This shit here is exactly what they want and they are getting it.
- Holy shit
- Christ, that's so much more depressing than I even imagined. Obviously (and awfully) homophobic violence is far from a thing of the past, but the details of that are some hateful, small town, 1950s type shit. Just awful.
- Pure fucking rage as I read this.
- Fuck
- Holy shit this is so bad
- The article linked in the OP changed to include this information. It was not in the article when I made the post but it is in the article now.
- Every homophobe gets the wall
- What the fuck?
- Fuck this cruel world.
- What the fuck
- Holy shit.
- God, that's so bad
- Bleak.
- 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.
  In many ways I've led a very privileged life because I read this part and at first didn't at all get why he would say it, just couldn't figure it out for a minute. It seems like horrific trauma to process for everyone close but especially for him, so my instinct is to think about how hard it must be to manage that - especially given that part of the trauma is being ignored by authorities in spite of speaking loudly.
  
  There's a lot of takes on places like reddit where people were saying he was in a mental health crisis for a while and he may have burned his own home down accidentally because of propane heaters or something and that it was all weird paranoia.
  The reality is he was coping with a lot of loss and before that, people were harassing him and messing with his furnace and stuff like that. Nobody asks why he needed propane heaters or why he seemed to be having mental issues. There isn't even evidence that the propane furnaces he brought in started the fire, but there is evidence of people threatening to burn his house down and all the rest.
  It's fucking sick that someone can look at this story and try to find the "well, he's no angel" side of it. It doesn't exist.
- Christ Almighty what the fuck
  Fuck is wrong with Texas. Im In the southeast, and people may shake their head or something at the queer community, but I never hear about....whatever the fuck this is.
- The skull? Like he dug up the dogs body to get it's actual skull? Or he killed it and chopped it's head off?
  Morbid question I know.
  
  Presumably a skull from one of the dogs that were killed in the fire.
  Can't remember if the comment here mentions it. But in the article i read; their 3 dogs were killed in the house fire.
Man this one hit different this morning (so much worse).
Like a minor national celebrity, who was first nations and gay, getting murdered homophobically, during pride month no less.
Like we'd correctly call out this in fiction as too heavy handed.
- who plays the character of a native
My favorite John Redcorn scene. Season 9 Episode 11, John Redcorn is trying to find a venue for his band to play.
- My favorite one is when Dale asks him if native Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, and John redcorn responds: "we did. Once." the delivery was perfect.
  
  I'd completely forgotten that, but you're right, it was perfect.
- I feel like Mike Judge wrote that one after doing one too many "Beavis and Butt-Head react to Grim Reaper video" bits
- This clip loops amazingly
Jesus fucking christ this made me cry. DEATH to every homophobe and every person that stands in the way of queer liberation.
Damn, I didn't even realize he was gay.
The guy who voiced Redcorn in the first season also died young, he was in his 30s and got hit by a truck that ran a red light.
So young. My mom was 59 too when she passed, seems like a lot of good people are dying early anymore.
- my mother also was in her late 50's when she passed away
  
  Shame, sorry to hear that. Sucks to lose someone so young.
- Mine was 60. Crazy to become an orphan before you hit 40.
Death to Texas, Death to Amerikkka
Damn that fuckin sucks.
Hope all the homophobes get shoot soon
Nothing but evil and bottomless level of depravity shown. Just Texas/america things I guess.
Firebomb san antonio completely worthless soulless city full of hateful freaks. I’m talking worse than Dresden style
:texas-cool:
Ugh. This is so fucking sad. During Pride, no less.
Hope that homophobe gets a traditional Stonewall parade coming to his home.
This song doesn't actually have anything to do with him, but it's good, I listened to it and cried after reading about this. SiR - John Redcorn
- That hit me hard.
- I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
  yewtu.be
  inv.nadeko.net
  yt.artemislena.eu
  piped.video
- (Texas just to clarify)
- This happened in Texas so California can't do too much about the murderer.
When I heard the news I had to check if somebody had posted about it here. God fucking damn.
I want to make some sarcastic comment mocking the expected conservative reaction that ignores all the undeniable signs that this is a targeted hate crime, but I can’t
This is just too sad. 😞

50 comments