Fired puppeteer ‘devastated’
UNITED STATES: It isn’t easy being green. But no longer being green is apparently even harder.
Steve Whitmire, the puppeteer who was fired after 27 years as Kermit the Frog, says he is ‘‘devastated to have failed’' Muppets founder and his mentor Jim Henson.
Whitmire had been with the Muppets since 1978, and took over as Kermit after Henson died in 1990. He wrote an emotional blog post yesterday in response to his firing after it was made public.
He said he was let go against his will, and would never have left voluntarily.
‘‘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,’' Whitmire wrote.
‘‘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.’'
Whitmire said he was informed that Kermit would be recast in October, and had kept silent in the ensuing months in the hope that he could get his bosses to change their minds.
He said he offered ‘‘multiple remedies’' to the reasons he was given for his firing. He would not say what those reasons were. Nor would Muppet Studio or its parent company, Disney, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Longtime Muppets performer Matt Vogel will take over as Kermit.
Whitmire wrote on his blog that ‘‘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’'.
–AP