Steve Whitmire has left the Muppets, Matt Vogel to continue as Kermit

[Oscarfan]

Wow. Rick Lyon does a pretty terrible Kermit.

Technically, he's just doing a spoof, so he doesn't necessarily have to be 100%.

 

[ErinAardvark]

I'm referring to the company

Ok, I now feel like a total dipstick. But thanks for clearing that up. Like the early Gonzo, I take things too literally. I'd better inform my sister about this. She takes things about as literally as I do (her all time favorite cartoon characters are Mickey and Minnie, so you can see why she gets upset when people refer to the corporation as "The Mouse," as she also thinks people are bashing Mickey. Sorry about that).

 

[Muppetboy09]

So if Colbert can have those terrible nightly sketches with a fake but authentic Kermit puppet, I say Steve Whitmire should have a youtube series with his own Kermit puppet.

Paging Terry Angus...We request a Kermit and Rizzo STAT!

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Technically, he's just doing a spoof, so he doesn't necessarily have to be 100%.

Okay. I was a little confused there, because I knew Lyon was a puppeteer for Henson, but I guess that makes more sense, kind of like that "Family Guy" clip. "Now we've got wrong sounding Muppets."

 

[inturnaround]

We'll probably never know the truth, but can expect that it lies in the middle of both stories.

I think that's a logical fallacy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_to_moderation

It makes way more sense that Disney and Henson are more or less right. Where are Steve's colleagues? When I saw Tyler Bunch had shared Cheryl Henson's post on FB, I realized that it's likely that Steve doesn't have the support of his fellow performers. And when you lose them? What do you have left?

It's entirely possible that this may lead to a better working experience at The Muppets Studio and Disney more likely to want to do more projects with them because they no longer have a malcontent under the iconic character. This could all end up a very good thing for everyone (save Steve).

Steve wasn't Kermit. In the end, he was a caretaker for Kermit, passing it along to another performer. Like I may have said earlier, as Jimmy MacDonald said to Wayne Allwine when he became Mickey Mouse, "Remember kid, you're just filling in for the boss."

 

[MrBloogarFoobly]

I think that's a logical fallacy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_to_moderation

It makes way more sense that Disney and Henson are more or less right. Where are Steve's colleagues? When I saw Tyler Bunch had shared Cheryl Henson's post on FB, I realized that it's likely that Steve doesn't have the support of his fellow performers.

I don't think that's a logical fallacy at all.
Where are Whitmire's colleagues? Contractually obligated to shut up, that's where. They're not going to publicly weigh in on anything if Disney is willing to fire people who are insubordinate. The only people who have gone on record apart from Whitmire, officially, are the big wigs.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Welcome to the club!

Yeah. I see both sides of things, because I didn't know until reading recent articles that Steve was sort of being disrespectful with his peers, but that is the thing about performers. You know them as their character. Take Sasha Mitchell who's character on Step by Step Cody Lambert was always a righteous moral guy, but we hear later on that the actor was arrested for domestic violence (beating his wife). Then there was something about Melissa Joan Hart posing a nude photo and things like that which were in direct contrast to her Sabrina character. Then there's the whole Cosby scandal. The list goes on and on.

 

[mbmfrog]

Would anyone think that Frank Oz original comments in Steve doing Kermit would be due to his grief of losing Jim ?

 

[ErinAardvark]

Yeah. I see both sides of things, because I didn't know until reading recent articles that Steve was sort of being disrespectful with his peers, but that is the thing about performers. You know them as their character. Take Sasha Mitchell who's character on Step by Step Cody Lambert was always a righteous moral guy, but we hear later on that the actor was arrested for domestic violence (beating his wife). Then there was something about Melissa Joan Hart posing a nude photo and things like that which were in direct contrast to her Sabrina character. Then there's the whole Cosby scandal. The list goes on and on.

It's hard to face the music when you realize someone you consider a favorite turns out to be a jerk. I guess I should be thankful it's entitlement and ego issues instead of what Cosby's been accused of.

 

[animalrescuer]

I've actually been responding all over on other people's posts. It's unfortunate that it was all played out so publicly. I don't think anybody handled it particularly well. It's no secret that I never felt Steve was the right choice for the role - he's just not good enough an actor. His professional behavior - his combative contract negotiations, for example - has been well-known to his peers for many years. His sense of entitlement and ownership to the character of Kermit has always struck me as self-serving and misguided, and his repeated insistence that Jim entrusted Kermit to him has always been completely untrue. Does he suck at Kermit? No. Is he great at Kermit? Also no. And he has thrown his fellow puppeteers under the bus many times, blackballing people - like me - who he saw as threats. So, I am not sad to see him go. What I really want to do is send him a message that says, "So, now you know how I feel. Hurts, doesn't it?"


- Rick Lyon posted this on FB. Interesting.

Wow! I guess Rick really didn't like Steve! If more and more performers come forward saying the same thing about Steve, he won't have anybody left to turn to. I also think it was wrong for Rick to call Steve "not good enough an actor", he was a great actor!

I'm not sure what to believe in anymore...

Me either! I'm still in denial that Steve was being an absolute jerk to people including other performers. Maybe his ego did get in the way. To me, it's like every thing I thought I knew about him is blowing up in my face! I still want to support Steve, but with other performers coming forward about his behavior, but I'm not sure what I should do now!

Last night, I was really upset with the new details, my dad told me a good piece of advice, "Focus on the work that they did instead of whether or not they were a jerk". I'll admit, that part will be pretty hard, but I think it's what we all have to do at this point.