Following the firing of the man who voiced Kermit the Frog for over 20 years, Steve Whitmore, the son of legend Jim Henson revealed to The Hollywood Reporter some details as to why.

Apparently the way Steve communicated with his colleagues was “appalling” and that producers had plenty of conversations with him about it — all ended with no result.

“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,” Brian Henson said to THR.

The Kermit we used to know and love (created by Jim) has flatlined over the years since Steve took over: “Kermit has, as a character, flattened out over time and has become too square and not as vital as it should have been,” Brian said. “What my dad developed was that Kermit the Frog is a little bit of a prankster, he likes to put an act on stage that will shock you and is kind of weird. But, Kermit the Frog, when push comes to shove, is loyal and believes in the family of friends. Kermit believes you should love and respect the being most different from you because of how different they are.”

He spoke on Matt Vogel, who has taken over the voice of Kermit:

“Matt is a very good performer,” he said. “And I believe in protecting Kermit going forward, Matt will do a really wonderful job. I think the fans should not be so scared of change. Steve did Kermit for a very long time — I would say far too long. And the character was no longer being serviced by Steve performing Kermit… My dad’s No. 1 thing was don’t repeat yourself. Innovate. Do something new. He is the guy who canceled The Muppets Show when it was the No. 1 show in the world after five seasons because he was worried he was going to start repeating himself.”