Disney Says It Fired Kermit the Frog Actor Over "Unacceptable

>"The first issue was that they felt I had been 'disrespectful' in being outspoken on character issues with the small group of top creative people during the ABC series," said Whitmire, who had been working with the Muppets since 1978. "I have been outspoken about what’s best for the Muppets since the Muppets came to Disney [2004], but the fact is I have respect for everyone who was involved in the creation of that series for their own particular contributions. At the same time, I also have insight into their limitations with respect to how well they know the Muppets."

>Disney and The Muppets Studio have a differing interpretation of the terms of Whitmire's departure, stating that the actor exhibited "unacceptable business conduct." A source close to the studio told THR that Whitmire's communication style was "overly hostile and unproductive" and his way of negotiation delayed productions. His persistent unprofessional behavior over a number of years ultimately led to the decision, the source said. As for Whitmire being honored, the source told THR the puppeteer was not interested in what was proposed. No details were given.

Are they making Kermit a tranny?

>"The role of Kermit the Frog is an iconic one that is beloved by fans and we take our responsibility to protect the integrity of that character very seriously," a spokesperson for The Muppets Studio told THR in a statement. "We raised concerns about Steve's repeated unacceptable business conduct over a period of many years and he consistently failed to address the feedback. The decision to part ways was a difficult one which was made in consultation with the Henson family and has their full support."

>Whitmire, who was asked to take over Kermit by Henson's family after the creator's untimely death in 1990, said that an instance of a note was over a script for the new ABC series, canceled last year, in which Kermit lied to his nephew, Robin, about his breakup with Miss Piggy.

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>>85133523
Whitmire, who was asked to take over Kermit by Henson's family after the creator's untimely death in 1990, said that an instance of a note was over a script for the new ABC series, canceled last year, in which Kermit lied to his nephew, Robin, about his breakup with Miss Piggy.

"I don't think Kermit would lie to him," Whitmire explained. "I think that as Robin came to Kermit, he would say 'things happen, people go their separate ways, but that doesn't mean we don't care about you.' Kermit is too compassionate to lie to him to spare his feelings."

He continued, "We have been doing these characters for a long, long time and we know them better than anybody. I thought I was aiding to keep it on track, and I think a big reason why the show was canceled (after one season last fall) was because that didn't happen. I am not saying my notes would have saved it, but I think had they listened more to all of the performers, it would have made a really big difference."

The second issue Whitmire says he was given concerning his termination was a union issue.


"The second issue was framed as 'refusing to work on a particular project’ some 15 months earlier," Whitmire explained. "I happened to get caught in the middle of a dispute on a contract classification between SAG-AFTRA and Disney Labor Relations, which occurred while I was in-flight to work on the project and the associated commercial. I did in fact shoot the commercial, but was unable to shoot the material for the project in order to comply with my obligations to the guild. Ironically, in that situation, my rep had negotiated a special deal with the guild so that we could do the work within the budget parameters for the project."

>Try to do what's right by Jim's vision and the characters he created
>Gets fired by Disney & stabbed in the back by Henson's children

>>85133523
He probably said something nice about Trump so they fired him.

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Mouse: We're going to make Kermit gay
Steve: Is that rea-
Mouse:

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>>85133593
Reposting this from /co/.

Things have taken a turn for the worse, Brian actually joined in the shitflinging and has thrown Steve under the bus as well. How big a cheque did Disney give them, holy shit.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/arts/television/kermit-the-frog-disney-firing.html

>“He played brinkmanship very aggressively in contract negotiations,” said Lisa Henson, president of the Jim Henson Company, and Jim Henson’s daughter, in a telephone interview.

>Ms. Henson said Mr. Whitmire was adamantly opposed to having an understudy for his role, which presented problems when it came to what she called “B-level performances, such as a ribbon-cutting.” She said he was unwilling to appear on some of these occasions but also refused to develop an understudy and that he “blackballed young performers” by refusing to appear on the show with them.

>Brian Henson, the company’s chairman and Jim Henson’s son, said that while Mr. Whitmire’s Kermit was “sometimes excellent, and always pretty good,” things changed when he was off set.

>“He’d send emails and letters attacking everyone, attacking the writing and attacking the director,” he said. .”

>In a reflection of Disney’s determination to undercut Mr. Whitmire, executives there also arranged an interview for a Times reporter with a producer on a Muppets-related project who expressed the same criticisms as the Henson family. The producer declined to speak for attribution, however.

For Mr. Whitmire, who didn’t respond to the criticisms leveled by the Hensons or Disney, this is the end of a professional journey that has occupied his entire adult life. His bond with the Muppets began when, at age 10, he wrote a letter to Mr. Henson asking questions about puppetry around the same time “Sesame Street” had its premiere.

>>85133553
probably not, but Disney is the kiss of death for any franchise. Not that Muppets is high art, but you can be sure it will be scrubbed, sanitized, watered-down, made thoroughly bland, and more so that it can be pumped continuously into the public consciousness until it loses all meaning and relevance.

I.E., Star Trek, Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel, Disney cartoons, ... ...

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>>85133523
>Steve Whitmire brought to tears in video about his abrupt firing from Kermit

"I was so stunned, because this was such a shock. There was no advance warning of this whatsoever for me. I had every reason to believe I was going to be working with them forever."

"It felt.. just.. almost exactly the way it felt the day that Jim died. So much hope was gone."

On ABC's failed Muppets show
"We were getting a lot of script material and story ideas that were far enough out of character that it made it difficult for us to portray them well, so I started sending notes as we've always done and I think they felt that I had been disrespectful but I don't think so. I think that I was being honest."

Lisa Henson's reaction in that same video saying "He had it a long time coming" was downright cold.

This entire situation with all three remaining Henson kids attacking Steve and Disney's "reasons" for firing him is just upsetting and disappointing, I doubt this is what Jim had in mind for the future of his characters, his company and his kids.

http://www.insideedition.com/headlines/24509-kermit-the-frog-voice-actor-abruptly-axed-after-27-years-so-much-hope-is-gone

https://www.change.org/p/the-walt-disney-company-make-steve-whitmire-a-muppet-again

>>85133605
iirc the script called for kermit to lie to his son and steve said that was bullshit thing for kermit to do

>>85133523
>actually trying to argue about morals and money with jews and not expecting to get the axe and be blackballed from the entertainment industry

He's probably well off enough to do this, but unless you want to keep working you never do shit like this

>>85133605
Disney CEO loves Trump

>>85133700
Money talks and bullshit walks

This is the problem of getting too attached to a character as an actor. You can love them all you want but at the end of the day it's not your character. So you do what the suits say or you walk.

>>85133810
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4zMrVJjAQM

>>85133642
>Not that muppets is high art
Liar

>>85133898
lel exactly what happened unly that Walt was a good guy and the jews that took over are the evil.

So it's ether...

>Steve was a jerk to Disney and the Henson siblings
or
>Disney and the Henson siblings were jerks to Steve

I think people are just gonna naturally blame Disney because their a "big souless conglomerate who only cares about money". But for all we know Steve may have went way overboard with his whole obsession of "THIS IS WHAT JIM WOULD HAVE WANTED!"

The muppets aren'r profitable of course the weak Hanson offsprings stick thit the one feeding them

It's hard to say who is right here he could just be a dick

>>85134093
>>85134074
What if he was right and did want to save the character but worded everything like a dick?

Also the contract part is just the Hensons being mad he wanted more money from their failing production.

>>85134074

I garuntee Disney wanted to do some bullshit with the character to make more money, the Henson estate agreed because they want more money to, and this poor fuck actually argued against it for the integrity of the character and got sacked.

>>85134074
I wanna know how big of a change disney had in mind that had Steve crying like a bitch. Steve sounds like the kinda guy that took theater arts in high school and never shuts the fuck up about his role that he got 10 years ago.

>>85134074
>>85134147

I'm inclined to believe the "He genuinely cared about the character but was an absolute dick bag about it" narrative. Creative types like him get very emotional and the working conditions back in the day probably gave him a lot more freedom to speak his mind and do his own thing. He probably just wasn't used to how things work under a bigger company and how you have to tow the line to a degree.

>>85134147

It's just a puppet though kids don't really give a shit what he says just that he has a funny voice and is a frog

>>85134074
He worked with Jim and lived him, maybe even more than his own spawn. Jim Henson's kids seem ruthless.

>>85134147
Steve Whitmire is far from a dick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIVEiALFXq4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euYnFbJFRZU

>>85133635
i don't believe any of this horseshit

>>85134297
That second video was pure cringe what the fuck.

>>85133619

Capitalism, man. When will it stop?

>>85134303
This is a pretty basic smear campaign. Think about it. If you are an underdog company like Henson, what would you do? Side with an employee, or a potential collaborator and employer with billions of dollars? It's no secret that the Henson Company is a sinking ship. Of course they're not going to take Whitmire's side.

>>85134297
>2:00
why is fozzie bear asking kermit a question at a convention?

>>85133642
Disney doesn't own Star Trek, anon.

>>85134220
Oh yeah?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYIRO97dhII

>>85134577
kek

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>>85133605
>everything has to be about Trump episode

>>85134608
give it six months, after discovery tanks they will buy the rights, and conspiracy theories will rise that disney sabotaged production on discovery and trailers for beyond in order to make the brand lose value so they could buy it
screencap this

>>85133635
>“He’d send emails and letters attacking everyone, attacking the writing and attacking the director,”
gee, if only we could see some of them

>>85134074
>for all we know Steve may have went way overboard
Any evidence of this?

>>85138863
>“He’d send emails and letters attacking everyone, attacking the writing and attacking the director,” he said. .”

>>85138912
Can you show me any of those emails and letters?

>>85138795
by attacking they probably mean something like "Hey guys I kinda disagree the direction we're taking here"

>>85138938
donut worry son. trump has new evidence thats gun blow the lid off this kenyan president!

>>85133542
>"overly hostile and unproductive"
Code for "he treated a producer like an actual human being rather than an untouchable management god".

Why does /tv/ care about this so much?

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>>85133523
He did nothing wrong. I liked the Jason Sudakis movie, and felt is was very respectful, but they blew it after that. Now the Muppets are dead. Fuck 'em.

>>85134028
Walt was always a Fascist but at least he had moral convictions and a drive to create something other then cash.

>>85143124
Nice hair, he should do a Game of Thrones cameo. Maybe end the song of ice and fire with a little Rainbow Connection

>>85134147
>What if he was right and did want to save the character but worded everything like a dick?
This is probably right. He was right about everything, but he was probably very forceful about it, causing people to not like him.

>>85143312
Such a forceful dick...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yVvS1t0VXI

People in charge don't like employees with seniority. This man was probably twice the age of the average producer and intimidated them.

He was probably right and worded it straight, but the current generation of management immediately gets narcissistically butthurt if someone disagrees with them and doesn't lick their buttholes. The Henson kids don't even fucking know or care what happens as long as the cash flows to them, they have absolutely no say in anything and are just literal figure heads that get money thrown at them to keep them obedient.

>>85143124
You think they forced him to give them his personal Kermit puppet as well?

>>85143816
He probably jerked off into it before turning it in.

>>85133605
neck yourself

>>85133635
If it were pushed just a little further, this would read like a classic /tv/ fabrication.

>>85143609
I'm gonna go with this one

>>85138863
Any evidence that Disney unfairly fired him? Other than his word or your preconceptions? Can you show me some emails or letters that prove it? Thought not.

>>85145038
Yeah, there are no letters. Disney fired the most senior member of the Muppets team with out giving any reason.

That's the evidence.

>>85141109
They don't, and that's the problem. This board is 100% pure Pledditors at this point. If you don't use the word "KINO" you've lost half of "/tv/s" attention.

>>85134608
Keep in mind that you are talking to summer right now, anon.

>>85133775
/tv/ in one post.