Jonathan Joss

Jonathan Joss (December 22, 1965 – June 1, 2025) was an American actor and musician of Native American ancestry. He was best known for his roles as John Redcorn in King of the Hill and as Chief Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation.

Early life

Joss was born on December 22, 1965, in San Antonio, Texas, to a family of Comanche and White Mountain Apache descent. His parents owned and operated a Mexican restaurant. Joss attended McCollum High School, graduating in 1984. He enrolled at Texas State University–San Marcos (then Southwest Texas State University), but left before graduating. Joss later attended San Antonio College, before graduating from Our Lady of the Lake University with a degree in theater and speech.

Career

In 1994, he appeared on the television series Walker, Texas Ranger. Joss provided the voice of John Redcorn from seasons 2 to 13 of the animated series King of the Hill, replacing the original actor Victor Aaron after Aaron's death in 1996. He also portrayed the recurring role of Chief Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation.

Joss was a musician, and performed as part of The Red Corn Band, a reference to the character he voiced in King of the Hill. In later seasons, inspired by Joss's offscreen performances, writers for King of the Hill introduced the fictional band Big Mountain Fudgecake, which Joss's character leads. He collaborated with the Graywolf Blues Band on the songs "Boogey Man" and "Still No Good", which were released on Graywolf Blues Band's album Dancing in the Rain.

In 2011, Joss launched a line of spice rubs.

Before his death in June 2025, Joss returned for the King of the Hill revival series and had begun recording. On June 1, just hours before his death, he uploaded an Instagram video of himself walking around Austin and noting how he already recorded lines for four King of the Hill episodes.

At the time of his death, he was writing a Western graphic novel titled Two Sides to Every Coin.

Final months

House fire

On January 23, 2025, Joss's San Antonio home was destroyed in a fire, killing three of his dogs (with a fourth missing). It had earlier been vandalized, and electrical problems led Joss and his husband to stay in a hotel. Joss says he was using a propane heater and had left the house. "Mistakes happen, man. And it's my fault for, I guess, leaving something on", Joss said. "Or if somebody came in and did something, who knows?"

Joss married Tristan Kern de Gonzales on February 14, 2025.

Joss was not invited to the King of Hill panel featuring other cast members from the show during the 2025 ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas. In a Facebook post that was later deleted, he said he was not invited to attend. However, he showed up in the audience instead. Joss got up to a microphone setup for a Q&A session whereupon he told the audience that his house had burned down and that it was "because I'm gay." Afterwards he was escorted out by security.

A day before his death, Joss appeared on a King of the Hill fan podcast and answered questions. When asked whether he was sober, his reply was "No... I've already lost everything, my house burnt down. I ain't going to give up drugs. I ain't going to give up drinking. They're my friends." He also revealed on the podcast that he had spent time in mental wards.

Police complaints and death

Despite years of complaints about Joss to the city of San Antonio, and 311, neighbors stated that police had done little. In total, police were called to Joss' home 74 times from January 2024 to June 2025. The reasons for the calls include complaints by neighbors about fires, thefts, nine calls in regard to shootings, six calls for mental health, and five calls for welfare checks. One neighbor told KSAT 12 News that her family and other neighbors had had tense conversations with Joss for decades, that he would frequently yell and make strange statements, like that his neighbors were going to go to hell because they're sinners and God is on his side, or that all the children on his street were going to die. Other neighbors also reported that Joss' behavior was erratic, and that he sometimes appeared outside in the street while yelling.

On June 1, 2025, Joss and his husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales, were driven by a woman to their burned-down home to check the mail. A half hour before his death, Joss was recorded by a neighbor holding a pitchfork walking up and down the street yelling. A neighbor told KSAT that a vehicle pulled up alongside the men and Joss spoke with the driver. A confrontation occurred between Joss and another neighbor, with whom Joss had been feuding and according to a witness who reported hearing three gunshots and seeing Joss with wounds to his neck and torso. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A suspect was arrested shortly afterward and reportedly told police, "I shot him", after being taken into custody.

Neighbors told a local television station that Joss and the suspect had often argued for several years but that no violence had previously occurred. A previous incident on June 8, 2024, resulted in the suspect calling police, saying Joss was brandishing a crossbow. On May 24, 2024, reports of gunfire resulted in police confiscating Joss's firearms.

Gonzales posted on Facebook that the day they returned to their burned house, they found the skull and harness of one of their dogs, leading to "severe emotional distress". Gonzales said the murder suspect yelled "violent homophobic slurs" before opening fire and that Joss pushed Gonzales out of the bullet's path, saving his life. Gonzales said neither he nor Joss was armed. Additionally, Gonzales said that various people in the area had for years verbally assaulted them with homophobic slurs and threats to burn down their home. Gonzales described the attack as a homophobic hate crime, stating that the neighbor "started yelling violent homophobic slurs at us. He then raised a gun from his lap and fired."

The San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) released an initial statement saying that no evidence of a hate crime had yet been found but that the investigation was still ongoing, although they later retracted this statement and publicly denounced it as “premature”. According to Gonzales, the couple had reported homophobic harassment "to law enforcement multiple times and nothing was done". The SAPD also confirmed that Joss had been a part of neighborhood conflicts and that the police mental health unit had made "repeated efforts to mediate conflicts and connect him with services that he may have needed".

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	8 Seconds	Medic Del Rio
	Texas	Commanche
1998	Almost Heroes	Bent Twig
	Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World	Additional voices	Direct-to-video
1999	Impala	John Eagle Claw
2001	Christmas in the Clouds	Phil
2004	Johnson Family Vacation	Casino Host
2010	True Grit	His Tongue in the Rain
2016	The Magnificent Seven	Denali
2021	Grow Up	Judge Robert Lightfoot
	The Forever Purge	American Indian on TV	Final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	The Substitute Wife	Black Deer	Television film
	Without Consent	Attendant No. 2	Television film
	Walker, Texas Ranger	Young Raymond Firewalker	6 episodes
	Texas	Comanche	Television film
1996	Dead Man's Walk	Kicking Wolf	Miniseries
1998–2009, 2025	King of the Hill	John Redcorn (voice)	Main cast; recorded four episodes for the revival
1998	Winnetous Rückkehr	Wash-Ti	Television film
1999	The Wild Thornberrys	Ooloopie, Polar Bears (voice)	Episode: "Polar Opposites"
2003	Charmed	Brutish Demon	Episode: "Baby's First Demon"
2004	ER	Bert	Episode: "Time of Death"
2005	Justice League Unlimited	Sheriff Ohiyesa 'Pow Wow' Smith (voice)	Episode: "The Once and Future Thing, Part One: Weird Western Tales"
	Into the West	Wovoka	Episode: "Ghost Dance"
2006	Maldonne	Nico	Television film
2008	Comanche Moon	Kicking Wolf	2 episodes
	In Plain Sight	Joseph Parker	Episode: "Pilot"
2010	Friday Night Lights	Owney	Episode: "Kingdom"
2014	The League	Takoda	Episode: "Man Land"
	Manhattan Love Story	Driver	Episode: "Happy Thankmas"
2011–2015	Parks and Recreation	Ken Hotate	5 episodes
2015	The Messengers	Mason Dakota	Episode: "Eye in the Sky"
2016	Ray Donovan	Lou	3 episodes
2019	Chartered	George Herrera	Pilot
2021	Bridgewater	Joseph Hoskins	Podcast series
2022	Tulsa King	Bad Face	2 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
1996	Santa Fe Mysteries: The Elk Moon Murder	Raymond Wolfwalker
1997	Santa Fe Mysteries: Sacred Ground	Richard Whitefeather
2000	King of the Hill	John Redcorn
2010	Trauma Team	Hank Freebird
	Red Dead Redemption	The Local Population
2016	The Walking Dead: Michonne	John Fairbanks
2019	Days Gone	Alkai Turner
2020	Wasteland 3	Payaso Wannabe
2023	Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty	Robert Rainwater

External links

• Jonathan Joss at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidata
• John Redcorn discography at Discogs