Steve Whitmire (Kermit since 1990) Leaves the Muppets

[Miya]

[url]http://www.toughpigs.com/steve-whitmire-news/[/url]

[QUOTE]We at ToughPigs, in a joint effort with the Muppet Mindset, have news that will surely be noteworthy for the Muppet fan community and beyond: Steve Whitmire, performer of Kermit the Frog since 1990, is no longer working with the Muppets.

Over the past few months, several of our readers have noticed clues, forcing us to wonder if Steve was absent from the Muppets. For example, his characters weren’t being used in the recent “Muppet Thought of the Week” videos, and eagle-eared viewers noted that Peter Linz performed Statler in some recent advertisements. We chose not to comment on the speculation until we had concrete evidence one way or another. We reached out to the Muppets Studio at Disney for comment, who has confirmed the following facts:

Steve Whitmire is no longer working with the Muppets.

Matt Vogel will be the new performer for Kermit the Frog.

We will be seeing Matt’s first footage as Kermit in a “Muppets Thought of the Week” video next week.

Anything beyond these statements is pure speculation, which I’m sure many of us will be doing until we know more.

[/QUOTE]

[video=youtube;EEfELVFsrHw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEfELVFsrHw[/video]

[Venomousbeetle]

[QUOTE=Gimme20dollaz;52464225][URL="http://www.toughpigs.com/steve-whitmire-response/"]Apparently he didn't leave willingly; he was fired.[/URL][/QUOTE]

This needs more exposure

[X12321]

Man that's crazy to spend that much of your life dedicated to a character and have it stripped from you by some suits...

[27X]

And [I]there's[/I] the side of Disney everyone likes to pretend doesn't exist.

Since a big ass chunk of most hollywood "news" outlets are under the Disney brand, good luck getting any information on it.

[Fangz]

With this happening and the fact the new Muppets Vision 3D Attraction Sign appearing to be easily 'retheme-able' makes me wonder if Disney is preparing to either put the Muppets on ice or bury it outright.