Studio: Kermit actor fired for 'unacceptable' conduct

Actor/puppeteer Steve Whitmire alongside his character Kermit the Frog. Photo / AP

The daughter of The Muppets creator, Jim Henson, has slammed Kermit the Frog voice actor Steve Whitmire, telling him to "stop with the pity party" over his shock firing from the show.
In a Facebook post, Cheryl Henson, who is also a Jim Henson Co. board member, criticised Whitmire's 27-year performance as Kermit, saying that he changed the character from the kind-natured and "compassionate leader of the Muppets" into something Kermit was never intended to be.
"Steve performed Kermit as a bitter, angry, depressed, victim," she wrote. "Worst of all, in the past few years he had not been funny or fun."

Whitmire has been extremely vocal over the issue of his dismissal He wrote in a blog post that he had gone through a range of emotions since he was informed of the decision in October but had kept quiet about it in the hopes that the sacking would be reversed.

In his post, Whitmire wrote he offered up a range of ways to fix the purported reasons behind his dismissal, which he identified to The Hollywood Reporter as him being too outspoken, and a union discrepancy.

"The first issue was that they felt I had been 'disrespectful' in being outspoken on character issues with the small group of top creative people during the ABC series," he said.

"The fact is I have respect for everyone who was involved in the creation of that series for their own particular contributions. At the same time, I also have insight into their limitations with respect to how well they know the Muppets."

But Ms Henson called out the voice actor over his comments, saying that his version of events is "ridiculously self-serving" and that his firing from the role of Kermit has been "long overdue".
Ms Henson didn't stop there though, she also called out the fact that Whitmire wrote in his blog post that he would never willingly leave the Muppets because he viewed it as betraying the role appointed to him by Jim Henson. Ms Henson alleged her father "never asked [Whitmire] to perform Kermit" but instead it was her brother Brian that offered him the role.

Disney and The Muppets Studio have said little on the subject of Whitmire's dismissal since the announcement, only releasing a short statement to The Hollywood Reporter stating that the actor displayed "unacceptable business conduct" over the years.

According to reports, an insider close to the studio described Whitmire's attitude as "overly hostile and unproductive".

"The role of Kermit the Frog is an iconic one that is beloved by fans and we take our responsibility to protect the integrity of that character very seriously," a spokesperson for The Muppets Studio said in the statement.

"We raised concerns about Steve's repeated unacceptable business conduct over a period of many years and he consistently failed to address the feedback. The decision to part ways was a difficult one which was made in consultation with the Henson family and has their full support."

The next person to reportedly take over Kermit the Frog duties is Matt Vogel, who has been a part of the Muppets team for some time having voiced the characters of Big Bird, Robin the Frog and The Count.

Vogel is set to make his debut as the famous green frog in a "Muppets Thought of the Week" video being released this week.