WaPo – With his enormous mouth, cheerful eyes and frantic way of talking, Kermit always seemed like a joyous frog.
But Kermit’s personality appeared to change in recent years. At least that’s how Cheryl Henson, the daughter of Kermit’s creator Jim Henson, saw it.
So in October, Kermit’s longtime puppeteer, Steve Whitmire, was fired from Muppets Studio. After months of silence, last week he posted a blog itemcritical of the decision, calling it a “drastic action” that left him devastated.
In response, Cheryl Henson reportedly took to Facebook to criticize Whitmire’s version of the beloved frog. Whitmire, who took over the role when Jim Henson died in 1990, “performed Kermit as a bitter, angry, depressed victim,” she said.
[The voice of Kermit the Frog has been fired. He’s ‘devastated.’]
“Steve’s performance of Kermit has strayed far away from my father’s good hearted, compassionate leader of the Muppets,” Henson wrote. “Worst of all,” she added, in the past few years “he has not been funny or fun.”
Perhaps Kermit did seem a little dour lately, albeit all played for laughs.
On a 2011 appearance on “Ellen,” for example, Whitmire’s Kermit complained that he “is often mistaken for a green fire hydrant” and bemoaned his relationship with Miss Piggy. With his misery seeking company, he appealed the studio audience, “Maybe some of your audience has actually dated a pig.”
Finally, when Ellen kissed the little green Muppet on the lips, he excitedly asked if he had turned into a prince. Upon realizing he remained a frog, he sighed.
“Oh, well.”
In the world of muppetry, this is a big deal. I haven’t given a literal shit about the muppets for years but I used to love em. Especially Statler and Waldorf.
Life lesson: When you’re a puppeteer dont be a prick. As weird as it sounds, people are lined up the be the guy behind the frog.
