Jonathan Joss crushed the King of the Hill panel: what really happened

A few hours before I had to moderate the “King of the hill“Reunion / renewal panel last Friday at Austin Atx TV FestivalI was able to watch the first two episodes of the next return to come from the series. Most of the main characters in the series are back, but have aged since the last time we saw them in 2009: Hank and Peggy are retired, and Bobby is now a 21 -year -old sushi chief.

Among the support characters, in episode 2, we see the neighbor Nancy Gibble (expressed by Ashley Gardner) – as well as the object of her not so secret love story, John Redcorn (expressed by Jonathan Joss). Gardner and Joss were not included in the Atx panel, because it had to be a small gathering led by the creators Mike Judge (also the voices of Hank Hill and Boomhauer) and Greg Daniels. There were also only three additional actors: Pamela Adlon (who plays Bobby Hill), Toby Huss (who takes over as Dale Gibble) and Lauren Tom (of which Connie has a leading role in the new season).

In relation: The first details of the renewal of the “King of the Hill”: Hank and Peggy are retired, Bobby’s A Dallas Chef, Dale was briefly mayor of Arlen and more

This is why Joss was not invited to be part of the panel – but apparently, he was very upset about it. About 37 minutes later, I started to discuss the death of the writer and star of the writer in 2023, who had expressed the neighbor of the conspiracy theory Dale since the start of the show. By finding a replacement for Hardwick, the judge and Daniels decided to keep him in the family and type Huss (who expressed Khan and Cotton Hill in the original race of the series) to take over as Dale.

“The fact that you trust me to start your voice is really humiliating,” said Huss. “It is with a lot of love and respect for this guy, because he established a really wonderful goofball character. The character was a madman, but he had a lot of strange heart for him, and it is a credit to Johnny. We love our guy, Johnny, and so sad that he is not here.”

At that time, Joss jumped from the public and headed for one of the microphones that had been set up for public issues. These microphones were not live, however, because we had not yet started this part of the panel.

“There is Jonathan Joss, who plays John Redcorn,” said Daniels, presenting him. And at the beginning, it appeared that Joss had interrupted the panel to pay tribute to Hardwick.

“You were talking about Johnny, and I mean something about him,” said Joss.

But then Joss began to refer to what he had been told when he had headed for the microphone. “This young man said I couldn’t stay there,” he said. “I guess he did not know that my earth had already disappeared. He said that the microphone was not going to be used. And I am an actor. I see a microphone, I use it. I see a wrong, I do it well. I want to breathe.”

Joss referred to his House in San Antonio in fire: “Our house burned three months ago. (Adding to the unusual moment, at that time, someone in the audience shouted, in a voice of Hank Hill,” Dammit Bobby! “) Because I am gay.” He also cited one of John Redcorn’s songs from “King of the Hill” (“There is a hole in my pocket where my money should go!“) Before making some additional tangents.

At that time, the panel was frozen – and the crowd laughed nervously. I do not know how to proceed, one of the panelists let out a “uh …” – What I replied: “What? You do the same thing, sir. The mind is full of emotion. And real. “

He then finally asserted his point of view on Hardwick: “Johnny, he gave you a character, because he is this character. He is that person.”

There was another break, and the judge reintroduced Joss to the crowd: “Here is Jonathan Joss, the voice of John Redcorn.” At this point, Joss left the microphone and went before the stage. We do not know what happened after that, but Joss was not cut by security or removed at this time – he moved away from his own will.

We returned to talk about the show and how the return of “King of the Hill” would also recognize the death of two other stars, Brittany Murphy (who played Luanne) and Tom Petty (Lucky). Executive producer Saladin Patterson did not explain how they would be addressed, but we said: “We found opportunities to let them reference in the show, I think, in a very respectful way.”

Given the clumsiness of the interruption of JOSS, the Q&A of the public was then put to the rebuilding – and instead of ending with fans’ questions, we wrapped when I asked the judge and to Adlon to promote the return of the series to the votes of Hank and Bobby. We have shown one more preview clip and left the scene.

Behind the scenes after the panel, the stars and the creators discussed the interruption of Joss, and it was agreed that letting him speak – and not involving security – was the right choice.

The moment was shocking for everyone on stage. It made the headlines that he had been killed, two days later, even more shocking.

“Jonathan Joss gave life to the King of the” John Redcorn “hill for more than a dozen seasons, especially in the next renewal,” said Daniels and Patterson in a statement published on Monday evening. “His voice will miss” King of the Hill “and we express our deepest condolences to Jonathan’s friends and family.”

Some news reports have badly reported that Joss was upset because he was not in season 14 of “King of the Hill”, which is not true. (His beef was not to be on the panel.) Others suggested that he had been prevented from speaking for security, which is not true either.

But the circumstances of his death and the current joss quarrel with his neighbor – including if it was a crime of hatred, as the husband of Joss claims, Tristan Kern de Gonzales – are still not clear. San Antonio police arrested one of the couple’s neighbors, Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, as part of the murder of Joss.

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

“King of the Hill” plans to launch a tribute to the screen in Hardwick in episode 6 (the last episode featuring his voice; Huss takes over after that). Variety Waiting to know if “King of the Hill” will now add a similar recognition of Joss’s death.