Jonathan Joss

Jonathan Joss Gonzales (December 22, 1965 – June 1, 2025) was an American actor and musician of Native American ancestry. He played Chief Ken Hotate in Parks and Recreation and was the voice of John Redcorn in King of the Hill.

Early life Joss was born on December 22, 1965, in San Antonio, Texas, to a family of Comanche and White Mountain Apache descent. 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. 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. New King of the Hill episodes where Joss reprised his role of John Redcorn were aired on Hulu on August 4, 2025.

Final months House fire On January 23, 2025, Joss's San Antonio home was destroyed in a fire. 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 was not invited to the King of the 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.

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 killing Despite years of calls to the city of San Antonio and 311 by neighbors concerned by an ongoing and intensifying feud between Joss and neighbor Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez, as well as Joss's frequently exhibited aggressive behavior in the neighborhood, residents stated that police had done little. In total, police were called to Joss's home 74 times from January 2024 to June 2025. The reasons for the calls included complaints by neighbors about fires, thefts, nine calls regarding 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.

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. Half an hour before his death, Joss was recorded by a neighbor holding a pitchfork walking up and down the street yelling. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A previous incident on June 8, 2024, resulted in Ceja Alvarez calling police, saying Joss was brandishing a crossbow.

Gonzales posted on Facebook that the day they returned to their burned house, they found the harness of one of their dogs, leading to "severe emotional distress". Gonzales said Ceja Alvarez 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 Ceja Alvarez "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, dubbing it "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".

On November 17, 2025, Ceja Alvarez was indicted by a grand jury for the murder of Joss.

Filmography Film

Video games

Discography Red Corn Sessions (2004) Still No Good (2006)