Steve Whitmire Fired from the Muppets

time.com/4855481/kermit-actor-on-leaving-muppets/

>On Thursday, Whitmire responded to speculation around the circumstances of his departure in a personal blog post, stating that it was not his choice to leave the role. "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," he wrote of his career. "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."
Whitmire continued to note that he was told by Muppets Studio executives in October 2016 that the role of Kermit would be recast. "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," said, adding that he retained hope that Disney would "reverse their course" in the ensuing nine months. Ultimately, they did not.
"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," he concluded. He noted that the website he set up — on which his note is posted — is intended to be "a place to connect and share on all things Muppet, past, present and future."In a statement released to TIME, a spokesperson for The Muppets Studio wrote: "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."

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but that is none of my concern

>Sacks Kermit's voice for no reason

whats wrong with Disney

>We wish him well in his future endeavors.
That's basically machine code for "Fuck him."

what did he do? Was it politics?

>their two stated issues

What could they possibly have been? Why didn't he tell the public what they were?

Disney is ice cold.

It's always politics.

>I am devastated to have failed in my duty to my hero"
Fuck you Disney for making him think that. I firmly believe that Steve lived up to Jim's legacy.

Put it this way: he wasn't known as Steve "She's 18 in Frog Years" Whitmire for jothing. Disney did the right thing and protected themselves.

Thats fckg fine, Steve say a lot of BS about our loved president

>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.

That's not how copyrights work.

God damn it Disney could you at least pretend your not a soulless corporation

Damn at least give us a hint as to what the reasons were. It couldn't have been a pay issue because I feel like Steve wouldn't care about that.

>Kermit needs to be more "hip"
>We want Kermit to be funnier/wackier
I imagine it was a couple of bullshit demands like this, something that cant really be quantified so they can sack the actor regardless of any changes they might be willing to make.

>Was it politics?
Wouldn't doubt it. Disney/ABC just dropped Tim Allen's popular "Last Man Standing" series because Allen is a Trump supporter.

Show me them sources you dirty, stinking liar.

Remember "muh feelings!"

I'll believe this when we have 100% confirmation that Steve wrote this statement.

>Steve say a lot of BS about our loved president
wuh??

It was a Pepe the frog related, Steve was using his Kermit voice to spout Pepe memes and someone recorded it.

>Steve Whitmire
Steve Whitmire

mean while Ike perlmutter still runs Marvel.

The sources on Steve "Permit the Log" Whitmire? Steve "One-Hand Puppet Show" Whitmire?

that was the prior one

Please don't let this be another Kevin Clash situation...

He was running Marvel long before Disney even considered buying it.

What racist/sexist/homophobic/etc. thing do they say that he said?

Holy shit. That's beautiful and I believe him. I'm never turned when actors complain about being fired, but I am absolutely on Whitmire's side reading this.

I seriously want to know their reason for firing him. As it is, that is really, really cold.

Ike's democrat. Trump was democrat until the 90s.

Mcu is aploitical with a conserative view on who is a hero.

Two reasons, he says, that they had never brought up before and he was willing to adjust to. I wonder what they are.

>because Allen is a Trump supporter.
No, he's not even that. He just said he didn't hate the guy.

Ike was kicked out of Marvel Studios, 'member? He just runs the comics now.

Yeah. But the tv and cartoonstill is close to the comics. We still get synergy from the shows.


While the licences are up to both disney and ike.

Jeesh, the guy's literally been involved with Muppets since the fucking OG Muppet Show and they do him like that?

Shit's fucked, yo.

No wonder Frank Oz doesn't get involved anymore.

But I want to know what exactly those reasons were. It sounds like whatever they were, they weren't scandals. Especially with how he addresses it.

>No wonder Frank Oz doesn't get involved anymore.
I think he knew Disney was gonna start kicking out the old timers and start straying away from what Jim had in mind, so he got out before he said something or pissed somebody off.

Seriously. I usually stay out of the "*Insert Company* is bad" thing, but this is straight up cold.

>it's not easy being green

Underrated

This totally breaks my heart. Guy had no reason to be kicked out of his life's work.

Oh joy something Kermit just flat out isn't. He's the put upon straight man. He can be funny but that always lies in a witty barb retort to someones displeasure.

And his show wasn't liberal and cut into liberals as a modern Archie Bunker.

Which was okay when it was an Island in a sea of liberalism. But now the oceans have receded and they see its part of the country.

Can't have that.

Politics in business terms means something different dude, like pissing off the wrong people.

You're thinking of Elmo. Kermit was voiced by Jim Henson before Whitmire, and nobody before that.

>machine code
Lol.

Its not wrong.

And that's enough.

That "The Office" attempt was garbage. Utterly misunderstanding why shit works with the muppets.

>called the new Muppet movies "too cute"
>said the new abc muppet show missed the point of the muppets
Why doesn't he come back and show them what the Muppets are, as a director?

Why would they wait so long to fire him for comments about Obama?

REEEE fuck Disney

>the new Kermit is just one of the old performers, Matt Vogel
that tells you Whitmire was canned for being at odds with the company and they needed a replacement quick.

Probably stuff towards the character, changing him

Wasn't that Elmo?

It was.

Now I want to see the Sesame Street episode about Elmo raping Zoe and not realizing it's bad until he's told. Complete with getting sent to jail.

Probably, but this is Disney we're talking about, we'll probably never get a proper answer, just vague hints.

>Ike Perlmutter
>Democrat
>New Years Eve 2016

Yeah, defo a democrat.

>Why doesn't he come back and show them what the Muppets are, as a director?
This.

If it isnt Politics, its Pedoshit. Seeing as we dont have a mugshot and them severing ties with him Jared style, Its the former.

...

>Why didn't he tell the public what they were?
NDAs

>popular

well I like his attitude towards his role. I hope he remains involved with the studio somehow with all that experience.

Because that's a lot more likely than ABC not wanting to pay the increased production costs for a show that they don't even own and have to share revenue for as a result.

fuck you just fuck you i laughed

looks like someone has a persecution complex

Sudden onset Tourette's

>October 2016
All I can find in Google is this:
reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/57ua5s/til_that_while_danny_trejo_was_filming_his_cameo/

>TIL that 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.

I did also find this: toughpigs.com/steve-whitmire-news/
It's nothing new, but it notes that Matt Zogel was the performer for Constantine, the Kermit impersonator in "Muppets Most Wanted", so that softens the blow a bit.

Anyways, I've got nothing. Just a story about Danny Trejo.

No, Marvel Studios was just removed from Marvel Entertainment. Ike still runs the comics, tv shows, merchandising, licensing, games, websites, toys, etc.

Corporations can't have souls. Despite what some politicians would have you believe, they're not people.

>It wasn't until Steve Whitmire apologized in character as Kermit the Frog that Trejo broke down crying
damn son

>We missed the timeline where Jim went to the hospital 2 weeks earlier and became CCO of the Walt Disney Company.

fpbp

Had some of the best ratings in it's time slot, but sure, that's not popular.

I wish this meme would die. It was booted for a combination of reasons. Time Allen has said he doesn't hate Trump but he makes fun of both sides on the show.

It was cancelled because of high production costs and the construction in Disney Tokyo. It wasn't the only thing to get axed either.

Conservative fucks just wanted another thing to point at and say filthy liberals took muh show

You mean Shanghai.

Tokyo's been around for over 30 years and isn't even owned by Disney themselves.

On the topic, Disneyland Paris is the one that failed at launch, right?

Yeah, and the repercussions of that rough launch fucked things up in park development for over a decade.

Yeah, wasn't Allen poised to get a huge raise for the next season? Costs were probably too high for the show to keep going based on returns

It had the best ratings of its time slot, it was down 38% from its 1st season. The only time it was #1 recently was the finally, it was beaten by MacGyver every other week.

>It was cancelled because of high production costs

Plus it's owned by 20 Century Fox so ABC would be taking on that additional cost and risk while not being able to make it back off of DVD sales.

I hope Matt Vogel can do well as Kermit

Ike only ever met Trump once: At a charity fundraiser that they both coincidentally attended. Trump is a "celebrity spokesperson" for some random children's charity that Ike coincidentally happens to also be a big contributor to. Ike is a notorious far-left democrat. Their meeting had nothing to do with politics.

Jim Henson was a literal communist. By his own admission. There's no fucking way Henson would have mentored this dude if they didn't see eye-to-eye on politics. Henson was known for refusing to hire anyone who wasn't as far-left as he was.

Where's the proof? Henson was literally Christian.

It really bums me out. Like, if he was retiring or something, it'd be one thing, but what good reason does Disney have for this?

I mean, if this happened last September, we would've heard about it sooner if it was something serious.

Leaves the room all stone faced comes back in with Kermit and gives him a hug and condolences.

Why the fuck did Disney fire this guy

Power Moves. He was Old Guard and they are going to do Muppet type things he wouldn't approve of and would be the voice for Jim.

But it'll likely be a massive Clusterfuck and they'll ask him to come back. Just like Force Awakens.

Why are there so many
Songs about FUCKING SHIT PISSING NIGGER COCKS!!1!
And what's on the other side?

Nah its got to stay within lyrical rhythm.

I'll be honest, I haven't watched a Muppet related thing since the first new movie, but I am insanely curious and disappointed.

This will affect me 0 ways, but what the fuck could he have done?

Most Wanted was actually a lot of fun with some good songs. I had 'Big House' stuck in my head for like a week.

Haven't seen any of the show.

I'll probably give it a go. I don't know why I stopped giving a shit.

If communists weren't atheists, they'd be catholics.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXppfX-mBsE

well the last big loss was because of a game of "how young is too young" that he lost, and most every other loss was to a death

They're gonna make Kermit a minority.

So what kind of oppression Olympics mess of a person are we thinking will replace Steve? Since Elmo is done by a black guy, i'm guessing they'll want to one-up Sesame Street and hire a gay black ftm tranny.