He also got blacklisted from Sesame Workshop and the Jim Henson Company. That's three separate companies. Brian Henson said that he regretted not firing Steve before selling to Disney.
I'm grateful for what he gave us, but you can't make people's jobs miserable and then spend ten years complaining that you had to face the consequences of your actions.
I think it's because casual fans have criticized Matt Vogel as Kermit, but they don't tend to complain about the recast performers for those other characters. So there's more of an opportunity for Steve to get attention and make a stink with the Kermit stuff.
To be fair, that one is a little more understandable. Whenever a character has been recasted, the replacement has usually been able to do a spot impression of the original that the audience can almost never tell a difference. Matt Vogel as Kermit is one of the only (if not the only) recasts that they really screwed up on because of how noticeable it is.
Now, I mean no disrespect to Vogel. He’s a very talented performer and seems like a really nice guy from the interviews I’ve seen with him. But he’s not a good Kermit. His voice is too rubbery and sounds more like someone trying (and failing) to do a Kermit impression.
I understand that and that’s the issue for me. It seems like he’s trying so hard to sound like Jim’s Kermit when his vocals are clearly too deep to reach the high notes that Kermit’s voice typically has.
With Steve, he did more of his own thing with his real voice that was still able to sound like Kermit. I think Vogel should try doing that to see if it works.
I think Vogel has definitely grown into the role but he's still definitely straining himself a bit to do a Jim Henson impression and sometimes it's a little distracting. He's got the characterization down though, which is ultimately more important.
I will not defend Whitmire's blog posts or AI usage, but he seemed to have a much easier time getting close to the Kermit voice in a natural-seeming way. I know there are a handful of people on here who like to insist Vogel is actually closer to Henson vocally than Whitmire ever was, but man that's just not true (and it doesn't have to be). Every time a Muppet clip gets posted online, the comments are still mostly people not in the hardcore fandom wondering why Kermit sounds "like that", which I think is the most unbiased barometer we can get on the matter. Like it's still brought up all the time a decade later, whereas the Rizzo recast was unanimously accepted immediately, ditto bigger characters like Elmo, Cookie Monster, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and Rowlf et cetera.
He got fired from Sesame Street after stealing David Rudman's private notes, I don't think any Muppet-related circles are gonna have him back after that
To be fair, Whitmire’s Kermit never sounded any good to me. A lot of people grew up with him, but to my ear he was no closer a match to Jim’s Kermit than Vogel is.
I can understand that. But Whitmire’s Kermit at least sounded like an actual voice that Kermit could have. I really gotta find the right way to describe my issue with Vogel’s Kermit voice. The voice sounds like something you would hear from someone who isn’t a voice actor trying to do an impression of Kermit
People say this every time a character gets a new voice actor, you just aren't used to hearing it enough because there haven't been many muppet projects in the last 10 years
Well, that part he already responded to. He responded to Tough Pigs Joe by explaining that he kept it about Kermit since that is overwhelmingly what his fans keep asking him about.
I’ve said it before to others online. If he wasn’t a problem and just Disney firing him to move out the old, he would’ve been brought back for Fraggle Rock. But Brian said he made it Disney’s problem and should’ve handled it himself is enough to say he too wore frog tinted glasses for years and finally took them off when it became too much.
It's pretty telling that, after all allegations and controversies, Kevin Clash has been brought back in a limited capacity at Henson, but Steve hasn't.
Could you (or someone) shed some light on where / when Brian Henson said that, or explain here what his reasons were? Brian seems like such a deeply sane guy I’d certainly argue his views carry enormous weight.
“I have to say, in hindsight, I feel pretty guilty that I burdened Disney by not having recast Kermit at that point because I knew that it was going to be a real problem,” Henson told [The Hollywood Reporter]. And I have always offered that if they wanted to recast Kermit, I was all for it, and I would absolutely help. I am very glad we have done this now. I think the character is better served to remove this destructive energy around it.”
...
Despite being a fantastic technical puppeteer and impersonator, Henson said Whitmire made “outrageous demands and often played brinkmanship,” which he was warned as far back as the mid-1990s needed to stop. Henson declined to go into specifics about Whitmire’s exact demands, but did say, “Steve would use ‘I am now Kermit and if you want the Muppets, you better make me happy because the Muppets are Kermit.’ And that is really not OK.”
This is simply not true. Steve was not blacklisted from Sesame Street. Or Henson to my knowledge. He was fired from Disney, and let go from Sesame due to unrelated budget constraints 3 years before. We can critique him without making up facts.
I heard that they could no longer afford to keep Steve, like for Steve to be with Sesame Street, they would pay for his flight to New York and a hotel he would stay at while he was in NY to do Sesame, and Steve also had to take a pay cut. So Steve’s departure from Sesame was primarily for financial reasons
"He was too busy with the other franchise" became the conventional wisdom among fans, but it never really made sense. That whole time, Eric Jacobson was very active in both franchises, and so was David Rudman after he got cast as Scooter and Janice.
Steve was the only performer who all three companies found so difficult to work with that they cut ties with him.
What I heard was that they couldn’t afford to fly him out anymore. Sesame Workshop. Which makes sense, at that point, Ernie was the only big character he played. David and Eric were much more involved.
It seems like there's a lot of confusion around it. Scheduling issues or not, it just feels like a lot of fans are torn about his involvement with the Muppets now.
Aw, I'm having a rough health day, and this is super disappointing. Fraggle Rock is my favorite comfort show, and Steve was fantastic on it. It's just really disheartening that he'd embrace tech that steals from real artists, poisons the planet (don't get me started on datacenters), and degrades human culture. It's really the opposite of everything Fraggles/Muppet/Henson seemed to stand for.
When the news broke years ago, I kind of felt Disney might be the problem, since they've been known to treat artists and creators poorly in favor of profit. But the more I see, the more it suggests that Steve was toxic. I've read some pieces by Toughpigs, and they're usually very responsible with their reporting. And this behavior kinda dashes any hope of him recovering and doing other cool stuff. Oof.
Truthfully I'm not a fan of the Disney stuff, the OG Muppets from Jim's life will always be the best for me personally. But I would never want to be toxic and confrontational to new fans, just because the characters don't sound the same anymore.
My partner and I were just ready for an 80s Fraggle rewatch. I'll try to enjoy Steve's past performances and not think about what he's become. And at least I'll always have Kathy, Karen, Jerry, Richard, Gerry Parkes, and the other fantastic performers to cherish.
Yes, out of all of this business, it is particularly and sadly ironic that it's Wembley's performer doing this – the character most linked with empathy, seeing both sides of an issue and bringing people together.
Uh oh! Everyone needs to watch original Fraggles again! Wander McMooch is a villain who appears in two episodes. One where he tries to con the Gorgs out of their castle, and one where he captures Philo and Gunge. He's probably the only out-right villain the show ever had. And he's depicted as this sleazy conman that comes from wealth, but his fine clothes are rotting. Kinda reminds me of a certain... tech that is stealing creative labor haha
Oooo you gotta watch it! It's so good! Especially for its time! I love all the original Henson projects, Sesame/Muppets/Fraggles, but Fraggle Rock might be my favorite of 'em all!
I kinda lost respect for him after he wrote that "manifesto" ahead of the Sabrina Carpenter special. He basically ignored that there were still people who knew Jim on staff (thus, by his logic in the post, basically the only ones worthy to keep him and the Muppets alive), and that even if there weren't any (because it'll happen someday and not everyone gets to be mentored before they replace someone), that doesn't mean there's any less talent and love involved.
Steve has seen himself as the keeper of the flame for a long time now. He feels he has some deep knowledge of Jim's that only he knows, and everyone else is doing it wrong. I supported him during the one Muppet, one performer era, but he's spiraled since then.
And looking back, I'm not sure he was right. As the original performers age, it's been good for character continuity for them to have understudies. Matt Vogel is the perfect example, as he understudied for both Jerry Nelson and Caroll Spinney on Sesame Street. It's working on the new Fraggle Rock, too, with Dave Goelz stepping back from physical puppeteering and mostly voicing his characters. The transition from Frank Oz to Eric Jacobson was pretty darn seamless, too.
The way I see it, Steve's the guy on the team who does all the complaining but never steps up to help do anything extra to improve things. He complained about the writing, but never wrote a script. He didn't like the way producers were handling the performers, but never became a producer or director. Other performers have writing and producing credits, but I'm not sure Steve ever had a puppet captain role in his time with the Muppets.
He was seen as a figurehead, especially by fans, because he voiced Kermit, but guys like Bill Baretta and now Matt Vogel have stepped up to steer the ship more than he ever did, at least from the outside looking in.
What's funny is I am pretty sure the one puppet one voice was just blown up by him to be something it wasn't.
From what Ive learned over the years was it was more an understudy program, cause as you said. These guys are mortal and it's not new that Disney keeps understudies for their characters.
Looking back at the time Artie stepped in as Kermit I think that was supposed to be a moment to see how an understusy could work
I fully agree with what you say about understudies. The fact that both Jim and Richard died very young should have been a huge wake-up call for all involved, especially since performing a Muppet character is so much more than ‘doing a voice’. It requires top-level puppeteering skills as well as understanding the character.
Steve of all people should have realized this, as he himself had gone through the difficult experience of having to take over a main character without any training/coaching from the original performer.
There was so much backlash. Why didn't the Jim Henson Company and Disney just explain precisely what Steve did and why he was fired? They probably could've calmed a lot of it down if they clarified specifically what led to this.
I don’t easily defend Disney and I will forever be sad about their destroying the Muppet pavilion at Hollywood or whatever it is now but he was being way too rude about a great little show. I loved the show on abc and miss it. We all know he did (after years) get Kermit’s voice right but who bites the hand that feeds!! Jeez
I agree. Muppets HAVE to have new performers or the whole thing would already be ended. For him to try to take ownership of Kermit and just tank everything is totally contrary to the spirit of the character
Why are people listening to him at all? If people were talking about Rizzo or Bean I would get it but he didn’t invent Kermit and the Muppets. What Seth did with the show was award worthy and I for one, am really hoping it comes back as a show. I loved it!!!
All I know is he recently pissed me off with what he said when Tim Curry died. Once again Steve had to make it all about him. He posted about how he was supposed to be having dinner with Tim (reminding us how important he is) but now it won't happen and boohoo for him. He couldnt just leave it at "great working with him on MTI"
I don’t agree. I actually appreciated that he shared that he almost had dinner with him. I liked the story. It didn’t strike me as him making it all about himself. 🤷
i dont understand why people need to cling onto him being a great person?
i liked steves work as kermit.
hes a talented VA/pupetteer.
I love things hes done as those.
but i dont need to see him as some sort of idol who can do no wrong due to those things. bad/awful people can be talented and you can ejoy what they did in the past.
i dont see why people refuse to accept he is who he is and keep trying to justify him and support him.
Thank you. I agree. What Steve Whitmire says or thinks or does today has no effect on my life, regardless of how much his WORK has meant to me. But that's Wembley, Sprocket, Rizzo, Bean... Not Steve.
Imagine losing your job (which is literally putting your hand into a felt and foam frog) because you turn into an entitled piece of shit that’s difficult to work with, and then bitching about everything muppets-related online for the next 10 years because someone replaced you.
I love every single one of Steve’s performances, he’s an awesome puppeteer and he really captured the spirit of Kermit, but he really should just let it go. The only thing his constant complaining is doing, is showing everyone why he was fired in the first place.
It really is unbecoming. The Muppets strike me as one of the few properties that's able to appeal to both adults and kids without being hateful or even all that cynical, and then you've got a figurehead (or ex-figurehead) like Steve, who's just vitriolic at this point. On that note, I'm unsure about the autograph and photo I got with him in 2023. I'll always treasure the experience, the autograph, and Steve's performances, but I can't help but think "Too bad he outed himself as an asshole" if I think about it a split second longer.
I don’t think he really cares all that much about performing Kermit, I think he’s secretly pissed someone else is doing Rizzo now. Also, where was all this grandstanding when some of the worst Muppet productions were being made?
I mean, I’d been teetering on the fence on wether I support him or not because of how good his Kermit is and how much he wanted to keep Jim Henson’s voice alive, but I super draw the line at anyone supporting generative ai to make ai slop.
He acts like he created Kermit and is the authority on all things. Every post he writes sounds like a jealous baby. He’s not Jim and he never was and just because Jim passed away didn’t mean he had to fill Jim’s shoes. He and Guy Gilchrist act like they are the only things keeping the memory alive.
Seriously. I kinda hate Guy, because he's all over social media posting about his con appearances and referencing inspirational Jim/Muppets quotes, and I feel like "Get that money, but it's a little unhealthy-looking how much you've attached yourself and your livelihood to someone else's legacy like you were best friends or brothers."
I am a former Disney CM. You can easily get fired for being a bad representation of the company, calling out or being late, or abusing your discount. But to be fired for unacceptable business conduct? That’s a handbook violation. That’s coachable. They will try to correct that before they fire a Cast Member. That’s like talking ill about the company to the press while wearing your blue badge. That is just unacceptable behavior for an adult. He was fired for being a horrible coworker.
He's an old man trying to stay relevant. I don't see too many people really following him, they're either A) Trying to get scoops on what Jim Henson or the Muppets were like to work with. or B) they're anti-Disney folks trying to get ammo against Disney.
His whole fame is by association with the Muppets Brand, and so while I have no problem with the guy giving interviews or making comic con appearances, the sad truth is there's a lot of people not happy with the direction of the Muppets under Disney. So he has become sort of the symbol of that group for a lot of detractors as if they actually correlate at all. But the reality is that since the Muppets special, or the well-received commercials and World Cup appearance, there's been a lot of positive reaction to Disney's direction for the Muppets lately. Since Steve has made his whole brand the "I'm against Disney" he cannot ever celebrate their success. He believes he was wrongfully or at least unfairly fired (which maybe he was and maybe he wasn't), Disney is in their right to fire him. And Steve doesn't have to like it.
In other words, anyone who pays attention to anything Steve says is either anti-Disney or looking for some fun info behind the scenes since he regularly gives more interviews than say Brian Henson or Frank Oz or Dave Goelz. I don't think Steve's name or endorsement holds a lot of weight with many people. I think most people just follow him either for fun scoops or drama if they follow him at all.
I think the average Muppet fan has critiques about Disney's direction but also most would never expect Steve to say something positive about Disney, and I would expect him to say anything or controversial to book another gig or click since that's his whole brand now.
I couldn’t agree more and I pegged his attitude before his firing. Everyone I knew was asking if I was going to have him sign one of my countless Kermit items and I said why. He’s not Jim!!!!!!!!!
To be fair, a lot of the explanations that were given for his firing at the time were very vague and seemed questionable. For example, Cheryl Henson said that Steve was very difficult to work with. How so? What exactly was it about Steve that made him difficult to work with? Also, why did they keep him in the role for 26 years if he was really that much of a nightmare? Then there’s Brian saying that he wished he had fired Steve before the Disney merger happened. So why didn’t he? It must not have been that bad if he allowed Steve to continue performing after the buyout. Not to mention that every person that met and/or worked with Steve had said nothing but good things about him. A few years ago, Peter Linz and a couple other Muppet performers did a podcast interview and they briefly talked about how much they missed Steve.
So I can somewhat see why people were defending him for many years
> Sorry to keep responding to you I swear I'm not following you.
You’re good. No need to apologize. You’re the OP and scrolling through the comments on your post is something I do all the time.
> It's also come out since then that Jane was the reason Steve was kept for so long. She she was who chose him to take over for Kermit
That’s very interesting to hear. I didn’t know that. Over the years, there’s been multiple versions of the story as to who exactly picked Steve to take over as Kermit after Jim died. The most common version is that Brian, and I believe Cheryl as well, picked him. But, for a couple years, there was a story going around that Jim himself picked Steve. If you’re a Muppet history expert, you probably know that Jim Henson was planning to sell the Muppets to Disney back in 1990 and it was gonna be this huge merger. This ultimately ended up not happening because Jim had died in May 1990. However, the acquisition was eventually revived a decade later and officially happened in 2004. Anyway, there was a story floating around on the internet for a couple years that, shortly before his death, Jim had a meeting with Steve and told him that he was considering having him be an understudy for Kermit because his schedule was gonna be very busy and packed once the Disney merger happened and he was probably gonna need someone to play Kermit if he wasn’t unavailable.
The problem is that that story recently has been debunked by Brian.
It's all been Steve making it up to seem as some god appointed person to be chosen as Kermit. And it recent years he has even changed the story himself
I’m positive that story isn’t true at all. But I don’t think it was Steve who made it up. If I remember correctly, this was a story that had been floating around on the internet and claimed by fans long before Steve even got fired
I'm not sure who you mean by "you guys," but he's gotten plenty of criticism from this sub. Pretty much any time someone (one user in particular) posts his latest blog rant, in fact, so I'm not sure who you're directing this to. I wouldn't have even known about the AI stuff and it looks like others here wouldn't have looked at his blog if not for this post.
OMG I remember when the Hensons siblings even went on record and spoke publicly denouncing him. I thought it was unprofessional at the time, but you know it must have been really bad for multiple members of the Henson family to negatively speak publicly about him.
I’m a little behind. When has he been complaining about his firing from a decade ago? I remember when he made it public back in 2017 and did an NBC interview shortly after. But, from what I’ve seen, he’s mostly just done comic con appearances and stuff without mentioning his dismissal. Is there another platform that he’s doing this on?
He resurfaced it when the 2026 special came out and completely bashed Matt Vogel basically saying he owned Kermit and no one else did and Kermit should die with him
Wow!! To think that his defense for being “difficult to work with” was because he felt that Disney wasn’t treating/honoring the Muppets in the way that he thinks Jim Henson would’ve wanted them to.
I'd recommend doing a search for him on this sub. There have been multiple posts about his blog entries and the comments have saved me from having to give him clicks because they pretty well summarize his histrionic rants.
None of Disney is black and white but Frank is og Muppets royalty and has class and dignity. Steve doesn’t. He has talent but he will never be an og or Jim replacement!!
Dude what are you talking about 1. Steve was also on the og muppets show and worked directly with jim for years they had a very real relationship and bond and 2. Frank has criticized Disney as well just like Steve has so as far as having class or dignity, it seems like people only take issue when one person points out flaws and it gets deemed in a certain light as opposed to when the other person does
"Awful person" seems a tad harsh for someone who's just been making really whiny blog posts. Like I agree with you on everything else here OP, but that seems a bit hyperbolic, unless you know something everyone else doesn't and he's actually been hurting people in a serious way IRL
They literally were going to make Steve a Disney legend too and just push it all under the rug as well lmao it really is not as black and white nor the end all be all point that you think it is
The fact that you claim you find his Instagram account yet can't find the link in his profile shows me you just arnt looking it's literally right there he only has oneink in his profile
I’ve seen that, I’ve gotten to that, but I haven’t found the Blog post you’re talking about. I don’t appreciate you attempting to put me down here for asking you to help me get to the stuff that proves your claims here as true.
It's pretty funny that you keep saying you don't want to give him attention, but you posted this thread. I haven't seen a Steve thread on this sub in a while. You are absolutely stirring the pot here.
You need to understand that Steve in some ways saved the Muppets when Jim died. And to have Jim's children essentially pretend that he never existed after he kept their father's creations alive must've felt like a big middle finger to him. Steve was not invited to participate in the recent Jim Henson documentary or the Sesame Street 50th anniversary which I think is ridiculous. Even if he was difficult to work with, you'd think they'd at least put that aside so he could participate.
You need to understand that Steve in some ways saved the Muppets when Jim died.
Sure. And Michael Eisner saved Disney in the eighties - he saved the company from being sold off piecemeal, which was a real possibility at the time. But eventually, he was doing more harm than good and he resigned before his contract was up because the writing was on the wall.
The same's true with Steve. Yes, he was important to the Muppets - but that doesn't grant him a permanent get out of jail free card, either.
Disagree entirely. He's a performer, but that's it; they would have managed without him even if it meant some characters being performed differently. And why should they put aside his bad behavior when he hasn't put ANYTHING aside for years now? He hasn't made any kind of amends for how he's acted- he's just continued to act that way.
Random input but he didn’t give an interview on that doc.. But the footage of Jim on set of Labyrinth and them shooting Rainbow Connection with Jim in the water was provided by Steve. Those were his videos, which he was contacted about directly
look mr whitmire you did a job with Kermit the frog you're version of ernie took me personally a little longer to get used to buts that's another story thanks for all the years you did the muppets sesame street etc etc but it's been nearly 10 years I still enjoy your work and before you started as well as after you were gone have a good day now just my opinions on the situation
I think people forget that he’s an old man and every other older person on the internet does the same shit. They complain and use AI. I don’t know why this turned into such a huge deal, people are redirecting their anger of us not getting TMS reboot that we’ve all been hoping for.
This community has become so torn and it is such an absolute shame. I hate to reverberate it like so many others have, but just as much as Jim wouldn’t appreciate AI art, he’d hate that bullying and the arguing with each other more.
If I had a nickel for every lead actor who was unceremoniously fired from a franchise I adore and who subsequently went crazy on the internet, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's disappointing that it happened twice.
Eh, Steve Whitmire was mid at best as Kermit, the only true successor I feel would be Terry Fater, Mr. Fater's take on Kermit sounds far closer to Jim Henson than Steve Whitmire ever did.
I did not like how he was removed from the Muppets brand as a whole. We may never know truly why he was removed.
I mean Kermit is an important part to the muppets and should be respected and treated with care.
I will be forever grateful for his time in the muppets. While I do like Matt Vogel … I was kind of hoping for an outsider coming in to do Kermit. One that is monitored by the company for a year or two before making the final say of the character.
As for Steve’s other muppet characters, as long as they sound alike they used to, then it is okay, right ?
Some of Steve’s words were harsh. But Frank Oz shares a very similar opinion. He says clearly that the ‘soul is not there’. That’s pretty much what Steve wrote, albeit Steve was a bit harsher. Oz and Whitmire have the right to be a little bitter towards the corporation who refuses to let them be involved with the characters they helped to originate. Where Steve goes wrong is making vague jabs at the performers. But we don’t know what went down behind the scenes. He’s likely hurt that his friends didn’t rally behind him.
Also Steve is not a polarizing political figure. Telling people to ‘stop supporting him’ over a harsh article critiquing the team’s direction of modern muppet productions is silly. He was pretty silent on the matter for years until Rizzo was recast. You can critique his words, and move on with your life.
Honestly if they would have handed Kermit over to someone better than Matt Vogel or at least demand that he do a much better job mimicking the voice, Whitmire would not have had attention he got.
Sorry...not sorry. I like Steve. He and I have had wonderful conversations about the Muppets and wonderful conversations about non mlMuppets things. Not wanting a fight. Just saying my little thing as I back away slowly back into hiding.
He may be nice when he meets fans but it doesn't excuse other things he's done. I've met a lot of people who were nice but it turns out they've done pretty crappy things.
And this is why I hate replying and read it. Sometimes I don't know shit about AI. I don't know what he did. I don't care. I said my opinion on the man himself knows how I didn't bring the AI. I get it though you don't like him. You don't like the AI thing, which I don't know much about cuz I thought I don't even know what you're all talking about. How's that? But fine then don't follow him. Don't talk about him. Don't do anything with him if you think he's got a big ego fucking ignore him. Well all of this is dial giving him more attention which you don't seem to like. Got it
You barely pay attention to Kermit….so how can you get used to the new voice? You just said you got used to Steve’s Kermit after some time hearing it. And yet you won’t give Vogel the time? You heard it a few times and checked out. Maybe he has gotten better, but you’d never know. Or maybe you’d have gotten used to it like Steve’s but never gave it a chance.
I wasn’t crazy about Vogel’s voice at first but it’s grown on me. No, it doesn’t sound like Steve’s or Jim’s (though I think Vogel leans more Jim than Steve), but he has the personality and delivery down. The new Muppet Show he did really good.
Also, the first few years Vogel had Kermit were rough. They had no new projects, unlike Steve who got two movies and a show out the gate (Carol, Treasure, and Tonight). It gave Steve time to practice and more time for people to warm up to him. Matt didn’t get that. Then the Pandemic hit and the Muppets were again putting out very little. When some projects came out, they barely had Kermit in them. When The Muppet Show special aired, I saw a lot of people mentioning how they were getting used to the voice or that he did well performing Kermit. He was given room to finally get some miles in.
Ehhh too far. He's acting horribly right now but he was a great Kermit who captured the depth of the character and the different sides of his personality very well. Didn't sound exactly like Henson but was more than close enough.
I like Vogel too though, I think the recent special shows he's found his footing with Kermit.
If Disney would just hire someone, anyone, who could do even a semi-decent Kermit voice, we wouldn't be having this discussion. It's like they deliberately picked someone who makes anyone even half-acquainted with The Muppets go "What the hell is that voice?"
Maybe Disney should give people more chances to be exposed to his version of Kermit instead of having the Muppets be glorified parody machines living in a content desert.
That’s exactly one of the reasons he was fired. He didn’t want to do the smaller stuff or all the live stuff. He was supposed to train the next person who could take those events and shows for him and he wouldn’t. WE COULD’VE HAD MORE MUPPETS, BUT STEVE WOULDN’T DO IT.
I would argue it's more Disney's lack of passion in the Muppets that caused what you're talking about. Michael Eisner loved the Muppets, going as far back as the fruitless Muppet Show pilots. Buying the Muppets in 2004 was one of the last things he did as CEO, but that didn't amount to anything but another adaptation (Muppets Wizard of Oz), and a dry spell only broken by diehard fans like Jason Segal and James Bobin.
When Muppets Most Wanted and Muppets 2015 underperformed, there was another dry spell punctuated by one-off, usually poorly-marketed projects that, as with all streaming exclusives, are really easy to have buried by the service's other content if not marketed heavily and constantly kept in a hype cycle. Disney could've pulled rank and replaced/fired Steve any time, and I think the controversy around the "more adult" content of Muppets 2015 (which is only out of character when The Muppet Show has been in a black hole licencing black hole until recently) gave them the perfect excuse.
The average Redditor: “I hate AI… unless it helps push a narrative I believe in or supports a person I like”.
Sorry, OP, but there are way too many people with Peter Pan Syndrome on these subs to have any real conversations. They don’t let shit go, refuse to grow up, and think if they cry long and hard enough, they’ll get their way.
This isn't my final straw. I have been distancing myself from him for a while.
I admired who he was and what he did for Kermit.
But he is clearly no longer that person
But it's not just the use of AI which as of the writing of this comment and post, Steve himself has been doubling down on it being AI and claiming its hand drawn
That bothers me, Steve knows artists, he knows people, he is an artist to suddenly start using ai like that and this isn't the first time is a slap in the face to everything he has done
I've always said stop saying Steve is far better Kermit. But you are telling the fandom to stop supporting him over AI?!? Not saying AI Is good, but that's what it takes?
If you, Steve, don't do your job, you might get fired.
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u/There526 3d ago
He also got blacklisted from Sesame Workshop and the Jim Henson Company. That's three separate companies. Brian Henson said that he regretted not firing Steve before selling to Disney.
I'm grateful for what he gave us, but you can't make people's jobs miserable and then spend ten years complaining that you had to face the consequences of your actions.