--- title: Kermit the Frog: Steve Whitmire Fired Over Business Conduct description: Muppets Studio said their decision to fire Steve Whitmire, voice of Kermit the Frog, was due to “unacceptable business conduct.” canonical: https://time.com/4861731/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired-business-conduct/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-17T20:30:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:45:27.257Z og:title: Kermit the Frog Voice Actor Fired Due to 'Unacceptable Business Conduct,' Studio Says og:description: Muppets Studio said their decision to fire Steve Whitmire, voice of Kermit the Frog, was due to “unacceptable business conduct.” og:url: https://time.com/4861731/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired-business-conduct/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f8cdc0f42d0e6d6/6988d607fb4eac1837892f33/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: steve-whitmire-kermit-fired og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kermit the Frog Voice Actor Fired Due to 'Unacceptable Business Conduct,' Studio Says twitter:description: Muppets Studio said their decision to fire Steve Whitmire, voice of Kermit the Frog, was due to “unacceptable business conduct.” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f8cdc0f42d0e6d6/6988d607fb4eac1837892f33/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kermit the Frog Voice Actor Fired Due to 'Unacceptable Business Conduct,' Studio Says > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly Jul 17, 2017 8:30 PM UTC  Muppet Kermit the Frog and his operator Steve Whitmire take questions from the audience November 14, 2003, at Barnes & Noble Union Square in New York City. Muppet Kermit the Frog and his operator Steve Whitmire take questions from the audience November 14, 2003, at Barnes & Noble Union Square in New York City. Lawrence Lucier—Getty Images by [Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly Jul 17, 2017 8:30 PM UTC Last week, it was announced that Matt Vogel would be replacing Steve Whitmire as the voice of Kermit the Frog. Two days later, Whitmire revealed the Muppets Studio [had fired him back in October](http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/13/kermit-frog-voice-actor-disney-fired-him/), and the studio has since said their “decision to part ways” was a result of Whitmire’s “unacceptable business conduct.” “We raised concerns about Steve’s repeated unacceptable business conduct over a period of many years and he consistently failed to address the feedback,” Muppets Studio said in a statement to [_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-says-fired-kermit-frog-actor-unacceptable-business-conduct-1021701?utm%5Fsource=t.co&utm%5Fmedium=referral)_._ “The decision to part ways was a difficult one which was made in consultation with the Henson family and has their full support.” Before _THR_ published its story, Whitmire shared a blog post hinting that his devotion to maintaining Jim Henson’s legacy led to the decision. He confirmed this in an interview with _THR,_ where he also attributed his firing to a union disagreement. “The first issue was that they felt I had been ‘disrespectful’ in being outspoken on character issues with the small group of top creative people during the ABC series,” he told the publication. “I have been outspoken about what’s best for the Muppets since the Muppets came to Disney \[2004\], but the fact is I have respect for everyone who was involved in the creation of that series for their own particular contributions. At the same time, I also have insight into their limitations with respect to how well they know the Muppets.” Kermit was originally voiced by Henson until his death in 1990, when Whitmire — who has been working in some capacity with the Muppets since 1978 — took over. “I see my most important task as providing a taste of the atmosphere created by Jim Henson to those Post-Jim core performers who will never otherwise come by it,” Whitmire [wrote on his blog Sunday](https://stevewhitmire-muppetpundit.com/2017/07/16/the-muppet-performers-are-not-interchangeable/). “My hope was to install it directly into their hearts and minds so that they could, in turn, be inspired to do the same for the next generation of performers instead of the characters becoming stale copies of their former selves. But, as I look around at what is presently transpiring it’s clear to me that the job is far from done.” Muppets Studio did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment. _This_ [_article_](http://ew.com/tv/2017/07/17/kermit-the-frog-steve-whitmire-fired/) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4861731/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired-business-conduct/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4861731/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired-business-conduct/"},"headline":"Kermit the Frog Voice Actor Fired Due to 'Unacceptable Business Conduct,' Studio Says","datePublished":"2017-07-17T20:30:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:45:27.257Z","description":"Muppets Studio said their decision to fire Steve Whitmire, voice of Kermit the Frog, was due to “unacceptable business conduct.”","url":"https://time.com/4861731/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired-business-conduct/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f8cdc0f42d0e6d6/6988d607fb4eac1837892f33/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ariana Bacle / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5f8cdc0f42d0e6d6/6988d607fb4eac1837892f33/steve-whitmire-kermit-fired.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"steve-whitmire-kermit-fired","caption":"NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 14: Muppet Kermit the Frog and his operator Steve Whitmire take questions from the audience November 14, 2003, at Barnes & Noble Union Square in New York City. 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