Steve Whitmire (Kermit the Frog and Ernie since 1990) no longer with the Muppets.

So they want a bunch of "YES" men and women that will do as told and tow the company line.

[sarcasm] That really encourages imagination and creativity. [/sarcasm]

Hate the Mouse.

I'll go and see their SW movies like the rest of the masses. But they will get $0 from me.

 

It's hard to get away from that conclusion. On the other hand... Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn claims the Disney/Marvel management have been very supportive and he has no complaints. My take, though, is that they keep creative people on a very short leash -- but that doesn't mean they don't let people be creative. I think it's more a question about budgets and results. (John Carter and Lone Ranger notwithstanding.)

 

Now there's an idea for a Double Feature! We could call it "Nearly 5 hours of Cinematic Hell".

 

I wonder how hands on Disney is with ESPN

 

Disney Says It Fired Kermit the Frog Actor Over "Unacceptable Business Conduct"

 

Steve's mistake is in thinking that this is still the cozy, reasonably-minded Henson Company of the 1980's when Jim was around. It isn't, and probably hasn't been since the sale to that terrible German company. He was probably going to be recast within the next 5 years or so anyway due to age (Disney seems to really want younger performers who will have a number of years ahead of them).

Still, this bad PR is probably not what Disney thought they'd get out of this decision...

 

Oh, I'm sure he was well-aware of what a different company it was. However "unreasonable" one perceives the company that employs them to be shouldn't stop them from expressing what they think is the "right" or "correct" approach, though (in my opinion)

 

Yeah, I'm not saying Disney did the right thing but... this is Disney and they're a lot bigger than any one actor/performer. Steve should have probably just kept his mouth shut (er, unless he was with Kermit of course- haha).

 

"Unacceptable business conduct" seems to be needlessly harsh verbiage based on even the version of events that reflects most negatively on Whitmire.

I would of course agree that he may have had too quaint of an idea of how Disney works and maybe didn't want to see how sharkish and cut-throat they can be. But he's also a long-time veteran in the biz; did he not already know that?

But if he was just disagreeing with the creative direction of the short-lived "The Muppets" TV show from a couple years ago (and *a lot* of critics *and* Muppets fans agreed the show was, for the sake of brevity, I'll say was making some of the Muppets and especially Kermit seem kind of "douchey"), and had a kerfuffle over some union regulations regarding some off-shoot project or TV commercial several years ago, does any of that rise to "unprofessional?"

Sounds like Disney maybe would want to edge older performers out anyway, and Whitmire just gave them some ammo by being difficult in disagreeing about the direct of the ABC show. Which is sad if true, if indeed Whitmire lost the gig over disagreements over a TV show that was cancelled after one short season.

But Disney doesn't come across too well in this. Not that it will matter of course. But yeah, I wonder if they sent out some "unnamed source" to feed stuff to the Hollywood Reporter to tell "their side." And yeah, for anyone that actually followed that ABC Muppet show, they will know the show was in creative disarray and they actually essentially partially *rebooted* the show in the middle of that first and only season.

 

I wonder of he was doing the Kermit voice without their approval...you know, kids parties and whatnot...

 

And here's the other side of the story...

 

I highly doubt it. He's a professional.

 

Ouch.... I would say she's pretty far off-base with that assessment. I mean she's right that Jim didn't ask Steve to take over as Kermit (Brian did) because Jim didn't think he was going to die, but so what?

 

What else would be a bad business practice for a voice actor though?

 

Steve is not a voice actor. He's a puppeteer. Complaining to Disney and stalling productions is what they're referring to. He isn't going to go perform Kermit at kids parties (for a whole lot of reasons).

 

Pity party? About Steve?

 

And another very negative story...

“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 studio continued. “The decision to part ways was a difficult one which was made in consultation with the Henson family and has their full support.”

Kermit Actor Was Fired Over 'Unacceptable' Conduct, Says Muppets Studio

 

"Failed to address this feedback" translates to "Failed to shut up and stop complaining loudly about our stupid decisions".

 

A lot depends on how he presented his "disagreements." One of the Disney statements claims he was "overly hostile and unproductive." It's one thing to simply express disagreement with your superiors, but another to do so in a way that comes across as hostile and argumentative. It's certainly a tough situation when you feel like you know what is best for your job, and a new supervisor comes in and wants to change things in ways that seem counterproductive to you. But if you present yourself as angry, uncooperative, and resistant to direction, then you should realize that's going to put your job in jeopardy. It sounds like it was more his attitude than his expression of opinions that got him into trouble.

The fact that the Henson family agrees with the decision to fire him suggests it's more complex than this, and wasn't simply a case of a big corporation stomping on a longtime employee for no good reason.

 

I've hated the Muppets ever since Jim Henson died (they often use crude language and vulgar innuendo which you'd never see in Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas, the Muppet Movie, Fraggle Rock, etc.). I wonder if they're firing anyone else. Wouldn't the writers be mostly responsible for Kermit's "bitter, angry, depressed victim" personality, or did Whitmire write all of the sucky scripts, too?

 

Why would the family of Jim even agree to all of this in the first place? I mean, it's just all plain wrong in my own opinion.

 

"With full support" could just mean they have something to lose if they don't acquiesce to the decision.

 

Oh yes, The Hensons know where their bread is buttered and it isn't with Steve.

 

We don't really have enough information to know if it's "plain wrong" or not. We don't know how Whitmire was expressing himself, or what he said or did that was considered "hostile" and "unacceptable." We don't know how long this has been going on, or what type of feedback he was given, or how he responded to that feedback. I tend to think there must have been fairly serious issues with his attitude. I'm sure Disney would rather not fire someone and deal with the attendant bad publicity if they did not have to.

I doubt Cheryl Henson would be going out of her way to facebook bad stuff about Whitmire if the family was ambivalent about the decision or felt coerced into publicly backing it for financial reasons.