Kermit Voice Actor Says Jim Henson’s Spirit Has ‘Withered’ Ahead of New Doc

The previous Kermit the Frog actor says he is not harm he is excluded from the upcoming Jim Henson documentary … he is harm ‘trigger he thinks Jim’s spirit inside The Muppets is dying.

Steve Whitmire — who took up the position in 1990 after Henson’s premature loss of life — tells TMZ … producers contacted him in regards to the forthcoming documentary “Jim Henson Idea Man” all in regards to the iconic puppeteer just a few years in the past for dwelling motion pictures he shot courting again to 1978.

Whitmire says he fortunately handed over the tapes and anticipated the staff to come back again round once they have been able to interview him — in any case, he voiced the franchise’s most iconic character from ’90 till his firing in 2017 — however, he says nobody adopted up.

Steve says he is not upset in regards to the studio leaving him out of the doc … however, he says he’s upset as a result of Jim’s affect is nearly non-existent in the case of his personal creation.

Whitmire says, “It was my defense of the whole of Jim’s influence within The Muppets that ultimately got me kicked out. It doesn’t hurt to be excluded from a documentary, it hurts to see Jim’s spirit, the very spirit celebrated in a documentary such as this, wither unnecessarily.”

Principally, SW’s saying the life Henson breathed into his character is fading away … and — although Whitmire says he is not bitter in regards to the present state of “The Muppets” — he does suppose the present misplaced one thing when the corporate tossed him to the curb.

ICYMI … Whitmire voiced the character for nearly 30 years, together with in iconic movies like “The Muppet Christmas Carol” and “Muppet Treasure Island,” earlier than Disney fired him in 2017.

The corporate claimed Whitmire exhibited “unacceptable business conduct.” Steve maintains he argued over the inventive path of the characters he knew so nicely, however by no means disrespectfully.