Henson's Daughter to Kermit Actor: 'Stop With the Pity Party'

Cheryl Henson says Steve Whitmire made Kermit a 'bitter, angry, depressed victim'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 18, 2017 10:30 AM CDT
Daughter of Muppets Creator: Actor Made Kermit 'Angry'
Kermit the Frog, left, and puppeteer Steve Whitmire at Comic-Con International in 2015.   (Photo by Tonya Wise/Invision/AP, File)

Disney isn't saying much about the firing of Steve Whitmire, other than it followed "unacceptable business conduct" and was carried out with the "full support" of the family of Jim Henson, whom Whitmire replaced as the voice of Kermit the Frog. But Henson's daughter is being far less vague. In a Facebook post, Cheryl Henson says the firing was "long [overdue]" since Whitmire "performed Kermit as a bitter, angry, depressed victim" who "strayed far away from my father's good-hearted, compassionate leader of the Muppets," per Page Six. She also says Whitmire wasn't "funny or fun" and should "stop with the pity party." (Here's what Whitmire had to say.)

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