Veteran Muppets performer Matt Vogel is now taking over as Kermit.<\/b>
\nNEW YORK \u2014 The Muppets Studio is blaming \u201cunacceptable business conduct\u201d for its dismissal of Steve Whitmire as the longtime performer of Kermit the Frog.
This explanation, issued Monday, follows Whitmire\u2019s emotional blog post last week after his firing was made public. He said he learned last October that the role of Kermit would be recast.
Whitmire had been with the Muppets since 1978, and took over as Kermit after the untimely death of Muppets founder Jim Henson in 1990.
The Muppets Studio did not detail the nature of Whitmire\u2019s \u201crepeated unacceptable business conduct, \u201d but said it spanned \u201ca period of many years, \u201d adding that \u201che consistently failed to address\u201d his employers\u2019 feedback.
Whitmire could not immediately be reached for comment, but in an interview Monday with The Hollywood Reporter he said the studio felt he had been too outspoken in expressing how the Kermit character should be portrayed on the ABC prime-time Muppets mockumentary series that aired in 2015-16. Whitmire said he had only been trying to help keep the show \u201con track.\u201d
The studio said veteran Muppets performer Matt Vogel is now taking over as Kermit.<\/p>\n

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