It’s been 27 years since Jim Henson left us. The creator of the Muppets was also the voice of Kermit the Frog. Decades of his performances on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and some half dozen Muppet movies have left us with an indelible racial memory of what Kermit the Frog is supposed to sound like.
The new voice of Kermit the Frog is puppeteer Matt Vogel. Here is his first on-screen performance as the immortal green flippered character.
Upon his death in 1990, his son Brian Henson took over the company, but it was Muppet performer Steve Whitmire who became the new voice of Kermit. He held that role until 2016, when Disney (the new owners of the Muppets property) decided it was time to recast Kermit after Whitmire’s troubled professional relationship foundered at length over contract negotiations and creative differences over the interpretation of the character.
Whitmire was devastated at the loss of his job, but the torch has now been passed to Vogel, whose interpretation of Kermit is perhaps closer to Henson’s original fresh, honest performances.
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