Look, I know I said that I was going to step out of the fandom for a while until this all cools down, but I feel the need to throw in my final two cents before I do so.
Most of you know that I have been one of Steve's loudest fans for the past 5 years. As you can imagine, watching him getting thrown under the bus by Disney and the Henson's has been somewhat of a nightmare, but that doesn't mean I have simply brushed aside the allegations made against him.
Quite frankly, this entire thing has been a three-way colossal f**k-up from the get go.
I really don’t have much to say in regards to the Henson’s. It’s understandable that they might find it insulting that Steve thinks he knew Jim enough to warrant being an authority on the Muppets. Cheryl Henson’s Facebook tantrum is a common response people have to hearing something frustrating. I’ve done that a couple of times myself. As for Brian and Lisa, again, I see where they’re coming from, but they had every chance to amend the ‘issues’ and didn’t do crap about it.
That’s the same attitude I currently have towards Disney. If Steve has been acting up so much, what was stopping them from dropping him earlier? They had 12 years to find a middle ground with Steve and the other performers. Believe it or not, there are other performers who feel the exact same way Steve does about the Muppets in their current state. One I’ve been talking to maintains that Steve was in the right and that his dismissal could have been avoided with some compromising and an attitude adjustment from both parties.
As for Steve, you never know what is going to bring out the worst in people, and apparently taking on Kermit gave Steve a major ego boost that lead to tactlessness and abrasiveness when it came to the business side of things. He's apparently left many angry and bitter people in his wake as he endeavoured in his vision to keep Jim's legacy alive.
But does this make Steve a horrible person? No. It doesn't.
Ignorance doesn't always equal consciously hurting others.
Steve is ignorant to the damage he caused. Just go back and read his current blog posts and the interviews he's done so far. The only reason he is stunned by his dismissal is because he never recognised what he was doing to his peers and the higher-ups. I believe that Steve believes he's been doing the right thing all along and that one day reality is going to come along and smack him across the face.
I've been fluctuating on my position as a Whitmire fan, but after careful consideration, I've decided to stick by him. I've accepted that he'll never come back to the Muppets and am just looking forward to seeing what he decides to do in the future. Regardless of everything else, he’s an insanely talented puppeteer among other things. Everyone deserves a second chance and the option to redeem oneself going onward into the future is not closed to him.
If the responses to his dismissal tells us anything, it’s that Steve always tried to be the best he could be to the fans. So many people have come forward and shared their stories of how accommodating Steve was and how he wanted to help their up-close-and-personal experience with The Muppets be as wonderful as possible. Steve’s not a terrible person, just blindsided by his own vision.
At the end of the day, just like everyone else, I just want to watch the next Muppet Thought of the Week and get the big Kermit reveal over and done with. Like I keep saying, I wish Matt Vogel all the luck in the world and I know he’ll do us proud. In the end, it's the Muppets that truly matter as it is they who brought us all together in the first place.
I’ll see ya’ll again in September.
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