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Kermit was performed by Henson since he created
it in 1955 until his death in 1990. The character is best known
for its tempestuous relationship with the ardent Miss Piggy.
Whitmire, who started working on "The Muppet Show" in 1978 at
age 19, took over the role from Henson. He called the Muppets
"not just a job, a career or even a passion. They are an urgent,
undeniable, impossible-to-resist way of life."
"I would never consider abandoning Kermit," he added on his
personal blog site, saying he was told in October 2016 that
executives at Muppets Studio, owned by Walt Disney Co, would be
replacing the Kermit puppeteer.
Without giving details, Whitmire said executives had raised two
issues with him that he had tried to remedy in the past nine
months without success.
Disney executives declined to discuss the reasons for Whitmire's
departure but issued a statement saying "the Muppets Studio
thanks Steve for his tremendous contributions to Kermit the Frog
and The Muppets franchise. We wish him well in his future
endeavors."
Whitmire performed the role of Kermit in numerous television
shows, movies and live appearances, including "Sesame Street," "Fraggle
Rock," "Muppets Most Wanted," and in the recent fictional talk
show TV reboot "The Muppets," which ABC canceled in 2016 after
one season.
He also voiced the roles of Ernie, Rizzo the Rat, Beaker and
Statler.
Performer Matt Vogel will make his first outing as Kermit in a
"Muppets Thought of the Week" video coming out next week.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Riham Alkousaa)
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