‘I am devastated…’-Steve Whitmire’s emotional outpour on being sacked from Muppets!
Kermit voice actor’s open letter
Steve Whitmire who was the voice actor for the famous Muppet amphibian, Kermit the Frog has taken to the social media to express his disappointment and sadness at being given a pink slip after 27 years. The famed puppeteer wrote this emotional blog post.
It read:
“For me the Muppets are not just a job, or a career, or even a passion. They are a calling, an urgent, undeniable, impossible to resist way of life. This is my life’s work since I was 19 years old. I feel that I am at the top of my game, and I want all of you who love the Muppets to know that I would never consider abandoning Kermit or any of the others because to do so would be to forsake the assignment entrusted to me by Jim Henson, my friend and mentor, but even more, my hero.”
Steve Whitmire had been told on the phone about his sacking in October 2016. In his blog, Steve continued:
“I have remained silent the last nine months in hopes that the Disney company might reverse their course. Doing what is best for the Muppets is the lens through which all my interactions have been filtered. Given the opportunity I remain willing to do whatever is required to remedy their concerns because I feel my continued involvement with the characters is in the best interest of the Muppets.”
He addressed his fans and friends and wrote:
“I just want you all to know that I am sorry if I have disappointed any of you at any point throughout our journey, and to let everyone know that I am devastated to have failed in my duty to my hero.”
Though his blog has been reproduced in various other outlets, his original blog post is inaccessible now.
The reason for the termination
Though Steve Whitmire was told about his termination in October 2016, it was made public by the Company only in the second week of July 2017.
His employers, the Muppet Studio released a statement to the Times Magazine in which they said:
“ We thank Steve for his tremendous contributions to Kermit the Frog and the Muppets franchise. We wish him well in his future endeavours”.
The reason for this departure has not been made clear. Steve has refused to divulge the reasons for this sacking.
Muppet Studio or its parent company, Walt Disney has also not responded to requests for comment on this matter from The Associated Press.
Steve just wrote on his blog:
“As I am sure you can imagine, I have experienced every possible emotion since October 2016, when I received a phone call from The Muppets Studio’s executives to say they were recasting. Through a new business representative, I have offered multiple remedies to their two stated issues which had never been mentioned to me prior to that phone call. I wish that we could have sat down, looked each other in the eye, and discussed what was on their minds before they took such a drastic action.”
Steve has talked about two issues on this blog but has not elaborated on them. He has however said that he had also suggested remedies to the two concerns.
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Kermit’s popularity
Steve Whitmire has been with Muppets since 1978. He had performed on various projects for the Company. He was also behind Sesame Street’s Ernie (of Bert and Ernie fame) and Rizzo the Rat.
Kermit the Frog was founded by Jim Henson and was the main character of the Muppet Franchise from 1955 to 1990. Henson himself used to lend his voice to this puppet.
After his death, his son Brian chose Steve Whitmire to take over Henson’s role. Steve Whitmire took up the job and became the voice that the many young children of today have known.
Steve with Kermit used to appear on ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’, ‘30 Rock’ and ‘Saturday Night Live’. The two also were in films such as ‘Muppets Most Wanted’ and ‘The Muppets’.
It has been reported by Hollywood Reporter and ABC News that fellow puppeteer Matt Vogel would take over as Kermit.
He has been associated with Muppets for a long and had also played Kermit imitator Constantine in the film ‘Muppets Most Wanted’. He used to assist Whitmire while he used to play Ernie. Matt Vogel would start his new job this October.
