Chuck Norris’ co-star from Walker, Texas Ranger has spoken out about the TV icon’s exclusion from the In Memoriam tribute at the Emmy Awards.
Norris died at 86 in March and was missing from the Emmys segment honoring Hollywood figures who died that year. Norris was an outspoken MAGA supporter, endorsing Trump in a 2016 op-ed and blamed “progressivism” for the Jan. 6 insurrection in 2021.
“I’m confident Chuck would encourage forgiveness. He was an ‘it’s not all about me’ kind of guy,” Judson Mills told TMZ. “But for an icon of his stature who impacted not only Hollywood, but the entire world, to see him not receive recognition at all and to see the family not receive that recognition was disappointing.”
Mills played Francis Gage in the final two seasons of Walker, Texas Ranger and its follow-up, Trial by Fire. Walker, Texas Ranger ran for nine seasons, from 1993 to 2001, with Norris starring as Ranger Cordell Walker. Though the Emmys included Norris in their online In Memoriam, Mills was “hurt” that he wasn’t in the on-air segment.
“Tragic mistake. And I have to assume it was just a terrible mistake. But my first thought was Gena and the family and his fans,” Mills said of Norris’ widow, Gena O’Kelley.
Monday’s In Memoriam segment honored late stars Catherine O’Hara, Rob Reiner, James Van Der Beek, Hayden Panettiere, Tim Curry, and more. Mills said Norris’ exclusion “must have hurt” his family “on some level.”
“It hurt my feelings for sure,” he added. “He was a legend, for God’s sake.”
