‘King of the Hill’ actor Jonathan Joss’ tragic final days scrounging for cash, begging for rides before murder: ‘I gotta get money’
“King of the Hill” actor Jonathan Joss had fallen on hard times and appeared to be financially struggling in the weeks before his murder, heartbreaking social media posts show.
Joss — who portrayed John Redcorn on the cartoon comedy — had been in Austin over the weekend for a event he apparently organized offering a “Q&A session and a meet & greet” with him, and also the chance to buy autographed photos at three-for-$25, .
“When I was 36 I didn’t need crap like this,” the 59-year-old said in a video as he rode a Greyhound bus to the Austin event. “But now that I’m almost 60 I gotta get money.”
After the event on Saturday — which gave attendees the chance to “party with John Redcorn” — Joss wrote on Facebook that he had no way to get home and pleaded for somebody to give him and his husband a ride.
“Unfortunately my former manager did not help me with transportation to get back to San Antonio which was the plan….now I’m being ghosted,” he wrote on Facebook Sunday afternoon, explaining a short time later that they were on their way home.
Later that evening, Joss was gunned down outside his San Antonio home in what his husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales said was a homophobic attack by a bigoted neighbor. Cops have disputed that claim and said they’d found no evidence to support it.
But his struggles had been on display for weeks before the incident.
Last week he was thrown out of a “King of the Hill” panel in Texas after he stood up from among the crowd and started speaking into a mic that was intended for a Q&A portion of the event.
“There’s a hole in my pocket where the money should go” Joss sang, before saying his house burned down recently “because I’m gay.”
He was referring to an incident in February where his home did burn down, which his husband also claimed was a homophobic attack.
Neighbors, however, told TMZ it was caused after Joss tried to heat his home with a barbecue grill when the city ruled his home uninhabitable and shut off power.
A GoFundMe set up for Joss by fans after the fire raised more than $10,000, while the fire left three of his pet dogs dead and the home destroyed.
Other neighbors, however, told WOAI that Joss and his husband were harassed for their sexuality, but also agreed with numerous reports that they were “erratic” neighbors — and even shared that cops had once been called after Joss was seen walking around the street with a rifle while screaming.
Officers were called to the home at least 40 times for welfare checks and disputes with neighbors since January 2024, according to police.
Joss had stopped by the remains of his home Sunday to pick up a victim’s fire fund check from his mailbox, when his husband said they found the bones of one of their dogs hung on display. The actor started arguing with a neighbor over the sight, and was gunned down, Gonzales said.
Neighbor Sigfredo Alvarez Ceja, 56, was arrested blocks away shortly after — and reportedly told police “I shot him” with a rifle, according to court documents obtained by The Post.
Despite the tragic picture of Joss’ last days, actors who worked with him over the years mourned his loss and recalled the joy of working with him.
“The cast has been texting together about it all day and we’re just heartbroken,” said Nick Offerman, who worked alongside Joss on “Parks and Recreation” for five years.
“Jonathan was such a sweet guy and we loved having him as our Chief Ken Hotate. A terrible tragedy,” Offerman told PEOPLE.
