“When I was a kid, my grandpa and I used to watch westerns every night. I loved having that time and those memories with him. We had a massive falling out when the George Floyd protests. Until that point, he was rigid conservative, and I could not condone his support of far right politics, but once the protesters were pepper-sprayed in Washington DC during the height of the pandemic, He disavowed those ideologies and admitted he was wrong for condoning any part of what was happening with the republican party. Then suddenly right after, he passed away. It was much later that I realized this was my way of honoring him and his impact on my life. He was a rare breed of man that valued principle, character, and humanity. The character of Nikki Manos is directly based on him“.