Kermit the Frog voice actor Steve Whitmire fired after 27 years by Muppets bosses

'I would never consider abandoning Kermit'

Earlier this week, it was reported that Kermit the Frog voice actor Steve Whitmire was to step down from the role after 27 years.

However, the longstanding cast member has now revealed in an open letter that he was fired by Muppets bosses.

Matt Vogel was announced as Whitmire's replacement having voiced the beloved amphibian character in various TV shows and films since 1990.

The reason for his departure had been unclear until an open letter he posted to his blog Muppet Pundit which expresses his sadness over being fired last October.

The letter reads:

"For me the Muppets are not just a job, or a career, or even a passion. They are a calling, an urgent, undeniable, impossible to resist way of life. This is my life’s work since I was 19 years old. I feel that I am at the top of my game, and I want all of you who love the Muppets to know that I would never consider abandoning Kermit or any of the others because to do so would be to forsake the assignment entrusted to me by Jim Henson, my friend and mentor, but even more, my hero.

"As I am sure you can imagine, I have experienced every possible emotion since October 2016, when I received a phone call from The Muppets Studio’s executives to say they were recasting. Through a new business representative, I have offered multiple remedies to their two stated issues which had never been mentioned to me prior to that phone call. I wish that we could have sat down, looked each other in the eye, and discussed what was on their minds before they took such a drastic action.

"I have remained silent the last nine months in hopes that the Disney company might reverse their course. Doing what is best for the Muppets is the lens through which all my interactions have been filtered. Given the opportunity I remain willing to do whatever is required to remedy their concerns because I feel my continued involvement with the characters is in the best interest of the Muppets."

Whitmire, the man also behind Sesame Street's Ernie as well as Rizzo the Rat, had worked on the Muppets since 1978 peforming in several projects from Muppets creator Jim Henson, including David Bowie film Labyrinth.

He has voiced Kermit since 1990 following Henson's death.

In a touch of life imitating art, new Kermit Vogel - a Muppets puppeteer since the 90s - previously played Kermit imitator Constantine in 2014 film Muppets Most Wanted.