As the world continues to mourn the death of Johnny Hardwick, the voice actor famed for bringing the chain-smoking, conspiracy-toting Dale Gribble to life on King of the Hill,  one group of fans has found themself particularly heartbroken over the star’s passing — conspiracy theorists.


“We lost a compatriot,” Redditor u/th3f00l captioned a side-by-side shot of the actor with his iconic character, adding in a copy and pasted retention of Gribble’s iconic speech accusing the U.N. of staging global warming for good measure.


“Dale may have been a parody, but he was our representation in popular media,” they elaborated in a subsequent comment. “Let's take a moment and reflect on how Dale opened a younger generation's eyes to conspiracy.”




And reflect they did. Quickly shooting to the top of r/conspiracy, several tin-foil-hat-wearing King of the Hill fans paid their respects to the late actor and his beloved character.


“Pouring out some pocket sand tonight because we lost a real one,” wrote SaturnPaul.



“This hurts me so bad,” added FuturePhillips alongside a string of crying emojis.


Meanwhile, other Redditors got candid on how, exactly, Gribble shaped their views of the world, including u/abcDeEez, who said the character  “made me the conspiracy nut I am today.”


“Just saw this and was very saddened,” they wrote. “Love the show. Especially Dale. I've had so many awesome memories of this show.”


But u/abcDeEez was far from the only redditor to cite Gribble as the inspiration behind their love of conspiracies.


“Decent and well crafted humor is indicative of truth, and it's this strange relationship that we all instinctively understand,” commented u/apainintheaspartame. “RIP, thank you for nurturing critical thinking people through humor, in a world desperate to oppress or ignore that very inquisitiveness.”


Amid these emotional posts, u/RustyPShackleford shared a tribute that would have truly brought a tear to Gribble’s sunglass-covered eyes, devising a theory that the beloved actor is not actually deceased, rather, that “his death was merely staged” with his body swapped for that of his gardener, whom the star just happened “to share an uncanny likeness with.”


“Or perhaps not dead,” they mused. “Perhaps....HE WAS KIDNAPPED IN THE DARK OF NIGHT BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT BECAUSE HE WAS ON THE LITERAL CUSP REVEALING THAT THE ALIENS ARE INDEED REAL AND THE GOVERNMENT IS INDEED TRYING TO STEAL THEIR MIND ALTERING TECHNOLOGY SO THEY CAN TURN US INTO THE ULTIMATE CONSUMERS SO WE CONTINUE TO BUY, BUY, BUY AND BECOME ENSLAVED TO THE NATION RESERVE WHO SHIPS US OFF TO THE ALIENS TO PAY OFF OUR DEBT BUT WE ARE NEVER SEEN AGAIN!!!!”  


RIP Hardwick – we hope the bunker where the government is hiding you has decent air conditioning.