Where is Steve Whitmire Petition

[beaker]

Yeah its a workplace like any other, especially with production companies .. people will talk and gossip, rumours will start. Sometimes true, sometimes baloney. I will say again though, i can't remember a single pre-announced appearance he has missed.

If anything, he went above and beyond. We've all heard stories on how Whitmire would literally be in a tiny cramped car trunk like space with his hand in the air for hours at a time performing(parades, events, etc)

You are right about the singing...how in the heck could Disney find a replacement for Kermit who:

1. Truly understands the subtle nuances and mannerisms of the character

and

2. Can really sing?

 

[SSLFan]

You know... I'm gonna have to give Star the benefit of the doubt here, and say I don't think trouble was meant to be caused. DW and SSLfan have both summed it up. I think the problem is that Star heard second hand rumor, and posted it here thinking it was news. I don't think Star meant to cause any harm or rile up the fan base with baseless accusations... it would be completely out of character for Star to do so.

If it were a new member that just signed up saying random things, that would have been an obvious sign... but this is a member, as DW and SSLfan said who never caused trouble, and basically says things only when the poster feels it needs to be posted. I just wanna say where's the source too... No one's mad at you, Star... we just wanna know where you heard it.

Thanks Drtooth. You & DW are the only one's making sense around here.

StarrFilter's post was unverifiable, inflammatory, and -- even if it had some basis in fact, clearly biased against Steve. ("X's contract was terminated," for example, would be a factual statement. "X was fired for being a diva" is an opinion.)

I post under my own name and I take responsibility for my own comments. StarrFilter's other posts don't change the fact that this message constitutes unsubstantiated rumor-mongering. (And even if they did, being an authority on Sesame Street Live, which is produced independently from Sesame Workshop, hardly lends credence to his source, if indeed he has one.)

What kills me is everyone is judging him based on this one post, yet you have not gotten to even know the guy as a person. And since SSL is in close ties with SW, a company Steve Whitmire work(ed) for, it is possible to obtain such information.

Since you called me out by name, it's worth pointing out that I'm not one of the people who've made those assumptions. And again, since I'm the only member you mentioned in your post, I'm not sure how I could be "ganging up" on anyone.

FYI genious, I wasn't referring to you directly. I clearly said YOU'VE ALL, which means the general public, not just you. And the reason I only mentioned you in the post was a) I wasn't about to rat out other members and b) your post was very rude, uncalled for, & the perfect example of the point I was trying to make.

What I think is really fascinating is how you feel the need to defend a pseudonymous forum user for propagating negative gossip about a Muppeteer, but don't care at all about the Muppeteer whose reputation is being defamed.

That's right...and I will CONTINUE to defend him. He's a cool guy & a good friend of mine around the forums, one of the few who actually has something in common with me & we both are able to discuss a topic & know what the heck eachother is talking about! And he wasn't "propagating negative gossip about a Muppeteer", he was just giving some info that he thought us as fans would like to know. You've all been saying these past weeks "Someone has to say something", "I hope we know what's happening with Steve", etc., and yet when someone finally posts something you all complain & get out the pitchforks and say "That's not true!".

Oh...before I go on, that last sentence was not aimed directly at you.

And as far as me not caring about the guys reputation blah blah blah, I'm a fan of Steve Whitmire's work as much as the next guy(particurarly as Ernie), and at the end of the day I'm a sad Muppet fan if this guy has left the Muppets for whatever reason. Saying that I don't care is an insult to me as a fan. And if he did leave because he wanted more money, hey - the guy's human. As heralde said, there's nothing wrong with someone asking for more money.

And I wish him luck on whatever he does.

I can defend every word of my 'immature' post, including the incendiary words which you take such great offense to. But the larger point my post made is that StarrFilter has no right to smear the reputation of a Muppet performer simply because he claims to have what is clearly one-sided information from some anonymous snitch.

He wasn't trying to smear the guy's reputation. Most of everyone took offense when he quoted "diva" in his post, while when he was typing that, he probably didn't mean nothing by it. You all act like he commited murder. Give him a break.

The truth isn't a democracy. It's not OK to drag this man's reputation through the mud.

...

This StarrFilter's post was horrible, inflammatory and IS one of the few examples of a violation in MC Forums policy. However, I hope it's not edited because it exposes more about that particular member than it does about Steve, Sesame Workshop, Disney or the Muppets.

Before I began, this has nothing personal against you frogboy4, since I really enjoy hearing your thoughts on things. I hope you understand that.

Okay, now this was what I was exactly talking about. Everyone is judging him off of one post. Have you yet to get to know Starrfilter more than just off of this? No. Everyone sees this one post and thinks "Omg this guy needs to be kicked out he's gossiping about pure garbage blah blah..."

I could care less about him not providing the source, since the majority of people have bashed him and called him names. I'm sure he's even reluctant to post that piece of info.

In the end *nobody* here really knows what's going on but Steve and the Disney execs.

When it boils down to it, yes. I will continue to believe Starr, however, will believe it more when (if) he ever confirms the source, though I doubt he ever will with all this negative feedback.


*Sigh*

I tried so hard not to get involved in ANY of this mess, even before the Starrfilter incident, but I'm sick of it all. A time when we should be celebrating for all the new Muppet things coming out, we're here arguing about where's Steve. This is a headache.

 

[SSLFan]

Well, it's an open secret that Caroll Spinney has had a number of unfortunate politics aimed his way in the SW behind the scenes climate. When it was brought up awhile back, some thought mere salacious rumors were being bandied about, but it was confirmed by two of Spinney's friends. There's MANY MANY things the average Muppet fan would be horrified or at the very least dismayed to hear when it comes to backroom politics.

I've heard this countless times, though never heard the full story. Could you please go into more detail; show me a thread about it; or PM me about it when you get the chance?

 

[Luke]

That's right...and I will CONTINUE to defend him. He's a cool guy & a good friend of mine around the forums, one of the few who actually has something in common with me & we both are able to discuss a topic & know what the heck eachother is talking about! And he wasn't "propagating negative gossip about a Muppeteer", he was just giving some info that he thought us as fans would like to know. You've all been saying these past weeks "Someone has to say something", "I hope we know what's happening with Steve", etc., and yet when someone finally posts something you all complain & get out the pitchforks and say "That's not true!".

He was propogating negative gossip about a Muppeteer intentionally or not ... he never posted he knows this information first hand, and we hear his connection is with Sesame Live which is independant of SW so its hardly likely he has seen Whitmire throw a "diva strop" himself. He made the comments as if fact and in a very negative way towards Steve - how does someone with a distant connection to Sesame know about how much Steve gets to play Kermit and whether he turns up or not at Disney other than just hearing rumours like the rest of us.

If he was posting genuinely just to try fill people in on what he thinks is happening and chose the wrong words fair enough, though if you don't know for sure then stuff like that is probably not the kinda thing you should be posting anyway.

 

[Hat Sharpener]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
While my sister was in line for the Muppets presentation (I caught up with her later) she spoke with a person who heard from his friend (a puppeteer at Playhouse Disney Live, and one of the puppeteers for the Riverboat Muppet appearance) that Steve and Disney were in contract negotiations, apparently, Steve was requesting more money, and Disney is apparently not having that. Now, this individual admitted that the story could wrong.
[/FONT]

Hey Mr. 55, Sorry you stepped into the middle of all this nastiness. Thanks for your post.

This is one of a few indicators that Steve and Disney are having "business" problems. The other main one being the emails coming back from Disney. In all honesty, this sounds far more logical than any of the other possibilities we've managed to come up with.

I don't think any of the other "ill" or "busy" ideas really hold water.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] So if all of you want to see Steve back in the saddle, as it were, WRITE LETTERS to Disney and let them know what an important asset Steve is to the Muppets. Discussing the matter online is fine and all, but Disney won't pay attention to that. We all need to write letters to Disney. And remember to be polite about it, that is the only way that you will be taken seriously.
Volume is the key.
Let Disney know that it would be a HUGE mistake to let Steve go.
[/FONT]

Again, thanks for your advice. This is totally where we need to be focusing our efforts and energy instead of this churning around in our own speculation and infighting.

Can we come up with a coordinated plan of action based on the theory that Steve is being replaced as Kermit for reasons of business?

i.e.
Lets turn this "petition" idea into a letter-writing campaign that seeks to show support for Steve Whitmire, the Muppeteer as the best option for the health of the Muppets in general!

Anyone who doesn't mind, or doesn't believe that there is any possibility of Steve being replaced need not participate.

Whaddy'all think?

 

[tomahawk]

I have some info about Mr. Steve Whitmire and him performing Kermit The Frog. It's not much and it's very much through the grapevine, but here goes....

As today is my birthday I get a personal message from a friend on Facebook, here's how it reads...



"Here's a Happy Birthday for you...My friend is working on the Muppets...I asked him about Steve. He said,
"Steve is still Kermit. We had him here yesterday."

Take that as you will, but it's something. I'm trying to get more info as we speak. Or type.

 

[Oscarfan]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

While my sister was in line for the Muppets presentation (I caught up with her later) she spoke with a person who heard from his friend (a puppeteer at Playhouse Disney Live, and one of the puppeteers for the Riverboat Muppet appearance) that Steve and Disney were in contract negotiations, apparently, Steve was requesting more money, and Disney is apparently not having that. Now, this individual admitted that the story could wrong.

[/FONT]

Despite it may not be true, it's the most logical reason I've heard. While Starr did post a similar note, he/she mad it seem as though he had "gone Hollywood" and was acting like a spoiled performer for it.

I have some info about Mr. Steve Whitmire and him performing Kermit The Frog. It's not much and it's very much through the grapevine, but here goes....

As today is my birthday I get a personal message from a friend on Facebook, here's how it reads...



"Here's a Happy Birthday for you...My friend is working on the Muppets...I asked him about Steve. He said,
"Steve is still Kermit. We had him here yesterday."

Take that as you will, but it's something. I'm trying to get more info as we speak. Or type.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Best news I've heard all day!

 

[tomahawk]

Despite it may not be true, it's the most logical reason I've heard. While Starr did post a similar note, he/she mad it seem as though he had "gone Hollywood" and was acting like a spoiled performer for it.



EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Best news I've heard all day!

I'll add more news as I get it. I know it's not much and again, that is the source I have, through Facebook. But it's something, isn't it? I hope so.

 

[Muppetfan55]

My original post kind of got lost in the shuffle, but I wanted to share the info and thoughts that I had.
And BTW, Hat Sharpener--Thank you for your thoughts.

Unfortunately, I do not think that I would fit in around here. For one thing, I try to be an optimistic Muppet fan, I am well aware that the Muppets are not the same as they once where when Jim was around, but I have stuck by them and have have enjoyed their recent projects. Its been a rough road, but it is clear that they are trying. In recent years, I think Disney has gotten on the right track.
This current Steve thing is a bit awkward, but I'm sure that if the fans make their voices heard, then it will work out.
For all we know, we cold be making a mountain out of a mole hill.

The second thing is, I am also a Disney fan. So clearly, I would not fit in well here.

~Take care all

 

[Luke]

I have some info about Mr. Steve Whitmire and him performing Kermit The Frog. It's not much and it's very much through the grapevine, but here goes....

As today is my birthday I get a personal message from a friend on Facebook, here's how it reads...



"Here's a Happy Birthday for you...My friend is working on the Muppets...I asked him about Steve. He said,
"Steve is still Kermit. We had him here yesterday."

Take that as you will, but it's something. I'm trying to get more info as we speak. Or type.

Maybe whatever contract negotiations (if it was that) have been sorted or they came to their senses lol