Steve Whitmire has portrayed Kermit the Frog for nearly 27 years, but now he’s been fired due to what Jim Henson Studios claims was “unacceptable” conduct.

The puppeteer wrote an emotional blog post last week, explaining his firing and that he’s parting ways. But Debbie McClellan, head of the Muppets Studio division of Disney spoke to the New York Times about the firing:

“The role of Kermit the Frog is an iconic one that is beloved by fans and we take our responsibility to protect the integrity of that character very seriously,” she said. “We raised concerns about Steve’s repeated unacceptable business conduct over a period of many years, and he consistently failed to address the feedback. The decision to part ways was a difficult one which was made in consultation with the Henson family and has their full support.”

The person who played Kermit before Steve was Jim Henson himself.

Jim’s daughter Lisa Henson told the Times that Steve refused to train an understudy for “B-leve” performances and “blackballed young performers” by refusing to appear with the. Additionally, Jim’s son Brian said that Steve would “send emails and letters attacking everyone, attacking the writing and attacking the director.”

However, Steve claims that two executives called him in October and said he was fired for two reasons: “They were uncomfortable with the way I had handled giving notes to one of the top creative executives on the series,” he said. “Nobody was yelling and screaming or using inappropriate language or typing in capitals. It was strictly that I was sending detailed notes. I don’t feel that I was, in any way, disrespectful by doing that.” The other reasons had to do with a small video shoot involving the Muppets — it was a dispute between the Screen Actors Guild and Disney on how they should be paid.

Veteran puppeteer Matt Vogel will be replacing Steve immediately.

“We have been doing these characters for a long, long time and we know them better than anybody. I thought I was aiding to keep it on track, and I think a big reason why the show was canceled [after one season last fall] was because that didn’t happen,” Steve once said to The Hollywood Reporter. “I am not saying my notes would have saved it, but I think had they listened more to all of the performers, it would have made a really big difference.”