Earlier this summer, Steve Whitmire, the man who had performed and voiced Kermit the Frog since the passing of creator Jim Henson, was fired. It was a complex situation that ultimately meant one thing for fans: a new Kermit was coming. And, today, we finally got our first listen.
The debut was quietly revealed in a seemingly innocuous piece of social media. Disney (which owns The Muppets) confirmed that this is, indeed, Matt Vogel—the new voice of Kermit, voicing Kermit publicly for the first time.
Knowing it’s Vogel and listening for a difference, you certainly hear one. It’s not spot on to what we’ve been used to hearing for almost 30 years. But it’s also clearly still Kermit, and really that’s the most important thing.
Let us know what you think of the new voice below.
[YouTube]
*Correction: Disney owns The Muppets, not The Jim Henson Company, which was originally stated.
