>In 1978 when I was asked to join The Muppet Show, the Muppets were the hottest thing on the planet. I was invited to sit at the feet of the true masters, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Dave Goelz; working alongside them, absorbing different skills from each, as we, along with many talented others, contributed towards the same shared vision, the vision of one man. The result became a skill-set for myself that was sort of a compilation of the best of them all.
>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.
>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.
>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.
>For decades, you have been an invaluable partner in co-creating the existence of the Muppets, and I am humbled by your devotion to them. There is so much more for us to talk about so I have created this site as a place to connect and share on all things Muppet, past, present and future.
>Please forgive any faux pas as I have not been active in social media previously and have a serious learning curve. 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.
Adam Reyes
You know, I never bought the Disney is evil shit, even with all of the Star Wars nonsense.
This, though. This is too far. Why the fuck would they do this? The fuck are they going to do, cast Bruno Mars as Kermit or something? This is just inexplicably shitty to me. Fuck Disney with a baseball bat covered in rusty nails. Seriously, enough with this shit. This has me wanting to legitimately boycott them, and I am the furthest thing from a Sup Forumsfag. Jesus fucking Christ, leave our childhoods alone, you sick money-grubbing fucks.
Brayden Morales
So why did they fire him
Caleb Mitchell
Disney is an evil Jewish mega corporation. Why would you doubt such a thing?
Carter Price
>Jesus fucking Christ, leave our childhoods alone
New childhoods for the new flesh, user.
Ayden Hill
He's just an old man we don't need anymore, and we can hire someone cheaper, and there isn't a fucking thing you can do about it because we're one of the biggest fucking corporations on Earth.
Eat shit.
- Disney
Kayden Cook
Matt Vogel will be taking over as Kermit, he has been a Muppeteer since the early 90s. He played Uncle Deadly, Lew Zealand, Floyd Pepper and Robin the Frog on The Muppets and he's currently Big Bird and Count von Count on Sesame Street as well.
Luke Clark
Why should anyone care about your childhood? It ended years ago.
Ethan Kelly
Why, though? In what way did this guy fail? There's no explanation from the Disney side of things.
Didn't the guy from Flight of the Conchords win an Oscar for the last Muppets movie?
William Russell
The "two stated issues" are drugs and drink, I expect.
Cooper Howard
Probably because I'm now an adult with money to spend, you dipshit.
Your childhood is in the past. If your childhood was about media consumption, it could hardly be ruined further if it still existed.
Andrew Sanchez
>So why did they fire him Parade Frank Oz around to build hype for a decade of CGI Yoda, before Frank Oz dies mysteriously
Hunter Bailey
Makes it a little suspicious, doesn't it? This guy isn't some newbie or cheap ringer, he's a veteran of almost equally long standing.
Jose Williams
>I never bought the Disney is evil Well you should know better, Disney is a greedy corporation like any other, they don't give a shit about anything but money.
Angel Williams
But a childless one, which makes your money less important than that of people who got laid and don't care who voices Kermit.
Grayson Ramirez
He seems like a genuinely sweet, humble human being. Didn't even know there was new Muppets stuff. Does he have any savings? How successful can one expect to be as a puppeteer
James Allen
Maybe you should leave your childhood alone too.
Liam White
>In a response to Whitmire's exit, a spokesperson for The Muppet Studios would only say: "The Muppets Studio thanks Steve for his tremendous contributions to Kermit the Frog and The Muppets franchise. We wish him well in his future endeavors."
>They are a calling, an urgent, undeniable, impossible to resist way of life.
Who talks like this about waggling felt? I guess the Mouse asked him to lay off the doobie and he refused.
Adrian Hughes
It's just some puppets lol he carries on line he writes symphanies and shit
Luke Bell
Did he get caught for diddling boys like Elmo?
Colton Cook
inb4 Kermit is CGI like every other children's show these days
Isaac Jones
>refuse to take a pay cut just because you are the guy who has been sticking your hand up a stuffed animal's ass the longest >younger more talented person says they'll do it cheaper >get fired
A BLOO BLOO. Welcome to the real world you fucking hippie. It ain't easy being green.
>muh childhood
Grow up you fucking losers. Absolute worst generation ever.
Leo Russell
Kermit's voice never sounded the same after Jim stopped doing it, so to me this is the same old, same old. Kermit's weird eye placement of recent years also makes it harder to care. Why didn't Steve stop them from fucking with Kermit's eyes if he cared so much?
Benjamin Evans
The guy taking over is about the same age. I think there's more to this involving personal conduct. It may come out soon.
Steve Whitmire was always vocal and protective of the characters, Disney didn't appreciate that.
Stealing this post from /co.
>Steve can get fairly passionate when Disney does something that is completely out of line. There was a minor incident involving Disney deciding to recruit 'alternate performers' right after they bought the Muppets, which Steve heavily protested and only backed off once the program was scrapped.
>Steve was really nervous and apprehensive about how the 2011 movie turned out.
>The 2011 movie seemed to have a lot of mixed emotions surrounding it even before it came out: Frank Oz didn't feel the script was very respectful to the characters or their interactions, and some people (myself included) was skeptical of the usually R-rated Jason Segel handling the script himself... even when the movie did come out, it got a lot of mixed reviews, with some feeling it spent too much time on "hero worshipping" the Muppets and less on the actual story or the characters and their humor.
>It sounds, to me, like Steve has always been uneasy about Disney's handling of the Muppets, as many of us have, but again, it seems to me that perhaps Disney is just not wanting to put up with him any longer.
Oh, so he spent six years asking to be fired and was finally fired. OK.
Michael Diaz
...
Colton Peterson
>fat nerds create a petition that will change nothing because they are butthurt about something in media that is hurting their feefees
You mean just like you did when Batfleck was announced? Sad.
Isaac Perez
Awful lot of projecting going on here.
William James
Lel he is a strongly anti Trump dopehead
Ethan Ramirez
Haha, no, I love to laugh and make a joke.
Hunter Lopez
>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.
god fucking damn it, drive a stake into my heart why don't you the jaded cynical part of me is yelling "he's just phrasing it like this for sympathy" but the kid in me and my ever-dying sense of empathy are winning out this time, this is just devastating.
25 years playing the part of a beloved frog puppet, second only to the actual creator, and they just kick you to the curb without any form of remorse, respect, or thanks
Tyler Jackson
Didn't do it then either, all such petitions are exercises in futility.
Jordan Myers
What part of that was projecting you retarded neckbeard? You whiny pussies do this shit all the time now and it's fucking pathetic. You're literally Tumblr: permavirgin edition.
James Sanchez
>the kid in me
You're not a kid. You have no kid in you. I have empathy, it doesn't make me a sucker for a pedophilic liar.
James Wood
Project any harder and you will be showing in IMAX
Henry Myers
Then he deserved it for being a Fascist.
Ryan Powell
>see someone with a bit of humanity left in them >shit all over them for it
you're scum, pal.
Leo Thompson
Makes sense then since Bob Iger is pro trump
Xavier Sanders
Uh, it's the fucking muppets. Who cares? You guys are seriously up in arms over kermit the fucking frog?
Thomas Miller
No, you see, to suggest that believing a clearly disingenuous guy is the litmus test of "having humanity left in you" is incredibly cynical. It's like you don't know what real joy and hope is.
Brandon Bailey
>Who talks like this about waggling felt?
A guy who has been doing it for almost 40 years
Evan Allen
>someone who's with the company for 40 years and playing a particular character for 25 >dismissed abruptly and unceremoniously >not seeing the larger problem of an industry refusing to acknowledge veterancy and experience >not seeing where this kind of behavior can lead to
being aware of the larger picture is tough for low-IQ people such as yourself but we implore you to at least give it a try before running your mouth
Camden Powell
You're so deep and unique, user
Carson Smith
wow, tell us more, oh prophet of the lands
Nicholas Martin
>While Danny Trejo was filming his cameo in "The Muppets: Most Wanted!" his mother passed. The cast all offered their sympathy but he shrugged it off because of his 'tough guy' persona. It wasn't until Steve Whitmire apologized in character as Kermit the Frog that Trejo broke down crying.
Jacob Wright
I make it 27 years he's been doing it, which is nearly 30. His replacement joined only slightly afterwards.
Jackson Young
ABC cancelled The Muppets (that mediocre Office/30Rock format show) on the 12th of May 2016
On May 24 there's a Muppets interview during Vulture Festival 2016 with Fozzie speaking of doing a hit show this summer with Kermit having to inform Fozzie about the shows cancellation.
Leave it to salty Disney execs to not handle Muppet banter and hold petty grudges against their performers.
Isaac Wright
It can lead to other old cunts I don't care about being given the sack.
Easton Bennett
You're making out I'm a pseud for not being a tacky psycho, whatever.
Connor Edwards
>apologized
So he killed Trejo's pop, huh? That explains it, they don't want Disney HQ ringed by a kill-crazy gauntlet of biker cholos.
Oliver Carter
Probably wasn't down with the new Disney agenda. Coming soon, CGI Kermit explains why little boys should chop off their dick and take hormones.
Josiah Sullivan
>It's like you don't know what real joy and hope is
Read that back to yourself and tell me it's not pretentious twaddle
John Gutierrez
>guy gets fired after years and years of work like they're wiping shit off their shoe >feel bad for him and feel a bit upset something that's been the same for so long is changing, for better or worse >"tacky psycho"
christ, man, who hurt you?
Jack Foster
this show was really funny at times excellent pepe the prawn moments
Carter Gonzalez
They were going to do a kermit is trans thanks to chemicals in the water making frogs gay storyline.
He opposed and disney said its 2017.
Parker Russell
apparently he was diddling kids with his kermit hand
so think on that next time you call disney 'evil'
Isaiah Sanders
Welp there goes the little sympathy I had.
Ian Howard
Bet you he's a kiddie diddler. Disney probably found out and got him counseling, but then fired him when he didn't show signs of recovery. Gotta do all you can to preserve the brand, yo.
David Cook
He went for the good, they are turning Happytime Murders into shit
the Jim Henson Company’s “The Happytime Murders” starring Melissa McCarthy is scheduled to hit theaters August 17, 2018.
Brian Henson is directing the noir comedy about a Los Angeles human detective who teams up with a puppet detective to solve the brutal murders of the cast of the beloved kids’ show, “The Happytime Gang.”
The story is by Todd Berger & Dee Robertson; while the screenplay is written by Berger with revisions by Erich & Jon Hoeber, and further revisions by McCarthy. Producers are Jeffrey Hayes, Ben Falcone, Henson, and McCarthy. Lisa Henson and John W. Hyde will executive produce.
Sebastian Ramirez
>apparently >presumably >according to anonymous sources
is this sincerely the world we live in? An age of information where proof and evidence are more prevalent and easier to find than ever before and plenty are perfectly content just agreeing with what's said to them with no further investigation beforehand
simply unfathomable
Christian Taylor
It's not pretentious, it's the honest truth.
It's not about "feeling a bit upset", is it, it's about making out that people's humanity is conditional on whether they smell a rat or not. Get help.
Jayden Butler
How has Disney never been hit with anti-trust suits?
Justin Turner
What does Sup Forums have to do with anything? This board is obsessed.
David Smith
>Cartoons and puppets for kids should continue to aim for one 30-year-old man-child instead of targeting the next generation of kids
Ryan Price
all i fucking said was that the 'grr angry' side of me felt he was probably fired for good reason so he's just looking for sympathy through his words, and the 'aw that sucks' side of me (which won out) was upset over the whole situation
you're putting words and intention into my mouth and arguing against that, if you want to get into an internet fight with your own projection and presumption just do it in notepad and leave the rest of us out of it
god forbid a conversation takes place without someone attacking the psyche of another
Blake Ross
This. One major argument for shake-ups like this would be that they put off creepy adult fans. Disney traditionally treats its non-parent adult fans as if they don't exist anyway, so this is consistent.
Logan Evans
>Disney being loyal to its employees That he lasted as long as he did is amazing in and of itself. The Mouse hasn't given a shit about any of its thralls since the '80s.
Jaxon Carter
What was said is perfectly clear.
Carson Ward
>we're getting a new version of The Rainbow Connection with it explaining each tenant of the pride flag
Julian Howard
I know just the replacement...
Brody Allen
Are DC pajeets really defending a anti trump drug addict child toucher?
Lucas Bell
Look at the guy. How likely is it that he wasn't up to something sketch?
Jonathan Hill
They are going to get darkies to perform the muppets now. Mark my words.
Blake Hill
Well he is not jewish, so of course he has to go
Brayden Martin
kek
Henry Williams
This. what a looney tune
John Roberts
>all this pedo and substance abuse projection Sort yourselves out jfc
Hudson Reed
Look at the guy. Read the statement where he mentions "two stated issues" without specifying what they are.
Lincoln Foster
>implying they would have continued to let him work for the last month if he was in fact diddling all the kids
Liam Parker
kek truuu
John Campbell
>Look at the guy. Read the statement where he mentions "two stated issues" without specifying what they are.
Issue one: not jewish Issue two: blonde and blue eyed
Tyler Bailey
So your mind immediately jumps to he was fiddling kids and a junkie? The fuck guys.. yeah disney is shady as shit but lets not toss the baby out with the bathwater.
Connor Jones
they will save money by hiring nigger?
Chase Anderson
Weird that the BBC were pushing this as him stepping down as per screenshot which is part of a quiz still up on their homepage.
Was on the same page as his statement regarding sacking too...
Why would he not state what they are when he's ready to lavish so many words on every other aspect of their decision?
I honestly don't think he was fiddling with kids, because if he had been he wouldn't have even alluded to it or even perhaps protested his sacking publicly, hoping to live it all down. I think the issues are probably booze and drugs.
Charles Ortiz
The BBC is unreal at this point. Only a retard would trust anything they write.
Samuel Davis
Yes it fucking is.
Eli Mitchell
Could very easily be contract issues, ie you will take a pay cut but be locked into this for 5 years and have to do twice the work. Things like that he may not be allowed to talk about legally.
Noah Martin
probably someones nephew does a wicked kermit impresstion but can't find a job
Eli Lopez
What are you even objecting to? Your sentence makes no sense.
What are you even suspecting, the report is factual and they happen to have a quiz that references it?
