Several years ago, The Walt Disney Company made waves when they abruptly fired the puppeteer who acted out and voiced Kermit the Frog. Steve Whitmire was a legend – a man who had taken over for Jim Henson after his passing, a muppet of a man who voiced fan-favorite Rizzo the Rat, as well as performing a large number of ensemble characters. When Whitmire was fired, some thought it was for lewd acts… after all, why else would Disney just suddenly severe ties with a giant of the industry. He certainly was not easy to replace. And so many thought this was another Kevin Clash kind of moment. That turned out not to be true however… Steve Whitmire appeared to have been fired for disagreeing with creative decisions taking place around the Muppets and Kermit the Frog surrounding the failed ABC series of the same name.
In his place, Matt Vogel was brought on to takeover the Kermit duties. The result was not spectacular. Whereas Whitmire had well-mimicked the voice patterns of Jim Henson with Kermit (albeit with a higher pitch), Vogel was able to bring back the nasal sound but not much else. Kermit has not sounded like Kermit. It’s a continuing issue that has been an internet meme for more than a decade.
I don’t mean to be negative about Matt Vogel. He was thrust into a role that he may not have even really wanted — it has to be awkward to take a job after a friend is fired. Since the ABC The Office parody series “The Muppets,” things have not gone sweemingly for the live action felt and furry characters. Although Muppet Babies has been a success for Disney, no other Muppet attempt has seen anything approaching a win.
So maybe… just maybe… they’re starting to see the error of their ways?
Since we're all indoors:
If you have Disney+, have already binged The Mandalorian, and are looking for some content, may I recommend ABC's 2015 series The Muppets: pic.twitter.com/VDdIcFBegm
— Adrian | Okaydrian (@okaydrian) March 16, 2020
Probably not, but maybe.
Enter Deadline’s announcement today that a new Muppets series has been ordered for Disney+, this one starring the Electric Mayhem.
Inside the article, Deadline is reporting that one of the lesser-known members of the Electric Mayhem, “Lips,” is being played by… Steve Whitmire. Well now, that’s interesting. So the question then must be: is that a result of old text being used for actor credits or has Disney rehired Steve Whitmire to join the Muppet actors once more? And if the latter has happened, does that mean he has the Kermit gig back again? It would be very strange for him to return to play Lips (and other characters?), but not return to play Jim Henson’s beloved frog.
Interesting.
Let us know in the comments below if you’d like to see Steve return as the voice of Kermy-Kermy-Kermy, or if this is a non-starter of an issue. And, as always, keep checking out That Park Place for all the news that should be fun!
Update 3/8/22 9:00 AM EST:
Deadline has updated the Electric Mayhem roster and credits without notification of changes to their article. It says something about the level of care going into this release that an old list for the characters was probably used without even noticing Steve played Lips. Here is the new list from Deadline:
The Electric Mayhem Band members are voiced by Barretta (Dr. Teeth), Eric Jacobson (Animal), Matt Vogel (Floyd Pepper), David Rudman (Janice), Dave Goelz (Zoot) and Peter Linz (Lips).
If you’ve ever wondered if Disney management checks out That Park Place, here’s another example. It would appear Steve is still gone from the Muppets over trying to defend Kermit the Frog from the strange series that was The Muppets on ABC.
