Jonathan Joss Crashed the King of the Hill Panel: What Really Happened

A few hours before I was scheduled to moderate the “King of the Hill” reunion/revival panel last Friday at Austin’s ATX TV Festival, I got to watch the first two episodes of the series’ highly anticipated upcoming return. Most of the show’s main characters are back, but have aged since we last saw them in 2009: Hank and Peggy are retired, and Bobby is now a successful 21-year-old sushi chef.

Among the supporting characters, in Episode 2 we see neighbor Nancy Gribble (voiced by Ashley Gardner) – as well as the object of her not-so-secret love affair, John Redcorn (voiced by Jonathan Joss). Gardner and Joss weren’t included on the ATX panel, as it was meant to be a small gathering led by creators Mike Judge (also the voices of Hank Hill and Boomhauer) and Greg Daniels. Also on stage were just three additional actors: Pamela Adlon (who plays Bobby Hill), Toby Huss (who is taking over as Dale Gribble) and Lauren Tom (whose Connie has a prominent role in the new season).

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That’s why Joss wasn’t asked to be a part of the panel — but apparently he was quite miffed about it. About 37 minutes in, I began to discuss the 2023 death of writer and star Johnny Hardwick, who had voiced the conspiracy theory-minded neighbor Dale since the show’s beginning. In finding a replacement for Hardwick, Judge and Daniels decided to keep it in the family and tap Huss (who voiced Khan and Cotton Hill in the show’s original run) to take over as Dale.

“The fact that you guys trusted me to do his voice again is really humbling,” Huss said. “It’s with a lot of love and respect for that guy, because he laid down a really wonderful goofball character. The character was a nut, but he had a lot of weird heart to him, and that’s a credit to Johnny. We love our guy, Johnny, and so sad he’s not here.”

At that moment, Joss leapt up from the audience and walked toward one of the microphones that had been set up for audience questions. Those mics weren’t live, however, as we hadn’t yet started that portion of the panel.

“There’s Jonathan Joss, who plays John Redcorn,” Daniels said, introducing him. And at first, it appeared that Joss had interrupted the panel to pay tribute to Hardwick.

“You were talking about Johnny, and I want to say something about him,” Joss said.

But then, Joss started to refer to what he was told as he had walked over to the mic. “This young man said I couldn’t stand over there,” he said. “I guess he didn’t know that my land’s already gone. He said the mic wasn’t going to be used. And I’m an actor. I see a mic, I use it. I see a wrong, I make it right. I want to breathe.”

Joss referenced his San Antonio home burning down: “Our house burnt down three months ago. [Adding to the unusual moment, at that point someone in the audience screamed out, in a Hank Hill voice, ‘Dammit Bobby!’] Because I’m gay.” He also quoted one of John Redcorn’s songs from “King of the Hill” (“There’s a hole in my pocket where my money should go!“) before going on a few more tangents.

At that point, the panel was frozen — and the crowd was nervously laughing. Not sure how to proceed, one of the panelists let out an “Uh…” — to which Joss responded, “What? You’re doing the same thing, sir. The mind’s full of emotion. And real.”

He then finally made his point about Hardwick: “Johnny, he gave you guys a character, because he is that character. He is that person.”

There was another pause, and Judge reintroduced Joss to the crowd: “This is Jonathan Joss, the voice of John Redcorn.” At that point, Joss left the microphone and walked past the stage. It’s unclear what happened after that, but Joss wasn’t cut off by security or taken away at that moment — he walked away on his own accord.

We returned to talking about the show, and how the return of “King of the Hill” would also acknowledge the deaths of two more stars, Brittany Murphy (who played Luanne) and Tom Petty (Lucky). Exec producer Saladin Patterson didn’t elaborate on how they would be addressed, but said, “we found opportunities to let them be referenced in the show, I feel, in a very respectful way.”

Given the awkwardness of Joss’ interruption, the audience Q&A was then scrapped — and instead of ending with fan questions, we wrapped when I asked Judge and Adlon to promote the series’ return in the voices of Hank and Bobby. We showed one more preview clip and left the stage.

Backstage after the panel, the stars and creators discussed Joss’ interruption, and it was agreed that letting him speak — and not involving security — was the proper choice.

The moment was jarring for everyone on stage. That made the news that he had been killed, just two days later, even more shocking.

“Jonathan Joss brought King of the Hill’s ‘John Redcorn’ to life for over a dozen seasons, including in the upcoming revival,” Judge, Daniels and Patterson said in a statement released late Monday. “His voice will be missed at ‘King of the Hill,’ and we extend our deepest condolences to Jonathan’s friends and family.”

Some press reports incorrectly reported that Joss was upset because he wasn’t in Season 14 of “King of the Hill,” which is not true. (His beef was with not being on the panel.) Others suggested that he was stopped from speaking by security, which is also not true.

But the circumstances of his death and Joss’ ongoing feud with his neighbor — including whether it was a hate crime, as alleged by Joss’ husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales — are still unclear. San Antonio police arrested one of the couple’s neighbors, Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, in connection to Joss’ killing.

According to NBC News, “police were called to respond to incidents at their home more than four dozen times, with most of the calls labeled as ‘disturbances.’” NBC News also reported that police had been “mediating a dispute between Ceja and Joss for over a year.”

“King of the Hill” is planning on running an on-screen tribute to Hardwick in Episode 6 (the last episode featuring his voice; Huss takes over after that). Variety is waiting to hear if “King of the Hill” will now be adding a similar acknowledgement of Joss’ death.