Whitmire first appeared voluntarily at a pre-show event at
Six Flags Over Georgia. He performed with his then alter-ego puppet Otis for the children waiting to see a multimedia show. Before graduating high school, Whitmire had his first "professional" puppeteering job using Otis at "
The World of Sid & Marty Krofft" in Atlanta, the first indoor theme park. From there Whitmire appeared on local Atlanta TV live for 2 1/2 hours every day on "The Kids Show with Otis" taking telephone calls from children and adults. The show received more than 2000 calls per hour.
WATL was owned at that time by former Atlanta
children's television host
"Officer Don" Kennedy. Otis made appearances on various WATL 36 shows with Atlanta's Ludlow Porch, performing with the
Georgia Bulldogs'
Larry Munson, Don Kennedy, and Entertainment Page host Artie Goodman. As Otis, Whitmire interviewed
Olivia Newton-John during a tour promoting an album. He worked with puppets after graduating high school, and eventually got a job working on
The Muppet Show in 1978. Since then, Whitmire performed in almost every major Henson company project, including non-Muppet projects such as films
The Dark Crystal (1982) and
Labyrinth (1986), and television series
Dinosaurs.
Characters performed Whitmire was the second performer of two signature
Muppets—
Kermit the Frog and
Ernie—after the death of their creator and original performer
Jim Henson in 1990. Whitmire was personally asked by
Brian Henson and
Jane Henson to be Kermit's performer a few weeks after Jim Henson's death. Following
Richard Hunt's death and
Jerry Nelson's retirement, Whitmire took over the roles of
Beaker and
Statler, respectively. In 2014, Billy Barkhurst took over the role of Ernie, with
Peter Linz taking over that role in 2017. According to Whitmire, the decision to recast Ernie was due to
Sesame Street facing budget restructuring at the time and it was getting too expensive to fly him to New York for filming. Muppet characters original to Whitmire include
Rizzo the Rat,
Lips (the trumpet player from
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem),
Miss Piggy's dog Foo-Foo,
Wembley Fraggle and Sprocket the Dog on
Fraggle Rock, and
Bean Bunny, a character who originated in the television special
The Tale of the Bunny Picnic (1986). Whitmire voiced
Link Hogthrob in the
Muppet RaceMania and
Muppets Party Cruise video games. He also performed Link for the 2011 film
The Muppets. This was the first speaking appearance of the character since the death of Jim Henson, the original performer of Link. Whitmire also performed him in the 2014 film
Muppets Most Wanted. In 2008, he took over another of Jim Henson's roles,
The Muppet Newsman.
Dismissal from the Muppets In July 2017,
the Muppets Studio announced that Whitmire was no longer involved with
the Muppets and that fellow Muppet performer
Matt Vogel was cast as Kermit's new performer. Whitmire stated that he was
dismissed from his roles in October 2016 because of undisclosed issues that he said had not been discussed before his dismissal. In their decision-making,
Disney (the parent company of the Muppets Studio) consulted the Henson family, who supported the recasting of Kermit and Whitmire's dismissal.
Brian Henson stated that issues with Whitmire began in the mid-1990s, and that he had warned Whitmire that his behavior needed to stop. He said that Whitmire would make "outrageous demands and often played
brinkmanship", mentioning that "Steve would use 'I am now Kermit and if you want the Muppets, you better make me happy because the Muppets are Kermit.' And that is really not OK." He additionally stated Whitmire would "send emails and letters attacking everyone, attacking the writing and attacking the director". In an interview with
The Hollywood Reporter that same month, Whitmire stated he was dismissed for disagreements over Kermit's characterization and prolonged labor union negotiations between Disney and
SAG-AFTRA (of which Whitmire is a member) that delayed his involvement in Muppet productions. Whitmire alleged Disney offered him what he called "consolation prizes" if he voluntarily left, including honoring him as a
Disney Legend, under the public pretense he would be retiring from performing. In a statement released to
The New York Times, Debbie McClellan, then-head of the Muppets Studio, said that they "raised concerns about Steve’s repeated unacceptable business conduct over a period of many years, and he consistently failed to address the feedback". In a 2017 episode of the
Defunctland Podcast,
Terri Hardin, longtime Muppet performer, alleged Whitmire was fired for wanting to retain what he felt was the integrity of Muppet characters, and was smeared as "a diva" and "hard to work with" to justify his firing. In a 2017 interview,
Frank Oz stated "with Stevie it's so sad, because the situation with Stevie was a pure business situation, as I understand it. I'd worked with Stevie since he was 18 years old, and on the floor he's terrific. We had a lot of fun. So when he's actually on the floor — I think it was something outside that. And it's very sad." ==Personal life==