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Things We Saw Today: Frank Oz Has Some Choice Words for Disney and Their Muppets: “Soul’s Not There”

Frank Oz

Frank Oz has brought iconic characters like Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Yoda to life. Having worked with Jim Henson to bring us some of these childhood favorites, he hasn’t been a part of the new era of The Muppets or Sesame Street, and his absence has surely been missed. As someone whose favorite Muppet is Fozzie, Oz has been an iconic part of this series from the jump.

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In an interview with Hadley Freeman for The Guardian, Oz opened up about a lot of things, like how he isn’t tired of people doing a Yoda impression at him because, as he says: “No I’m used to it. But people don’t understand, anyone can do a voice. It’s not the voice – it’s the soul.”

But more than people sharing their love for Oz’s work, he also gave us a look into his desire to work with the Muppets again but how Disney doesn’t really want him.

“I’d love to do the Muppets again but Disney doesn’t want me, and Sesame Street hasn’t asked me for 10 years. They don’t want me because I won’t follow orders and I won’t do the kind of Muppets they believe in,” he says. He can’t bear to watch the Muppets or Sesame Street today: “The soul’s not there. The soul is what makes things grow and be funny. But I miss them and love them.”

Disney clearly doesn’t know the joy that they could have with Oz, but as he said, he isn’t going to just follow their orders. And maybe that’s a reflection on Oz and these companies at the same time, but it is fascinating that Sesame Street and Disney aren’t itching to have him back, especially when fans would be excited to see Oz with the Muppets once again. Bring me back my Fozzie Bear!

(image: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for National Board of Review)

Here are some other things we saw out there today:

  • The US is removed from the EU’s COVID-19 safe list. (via The Hill)
  • Women have come out against Madison Cawthorn. (via Buzzfeed News)

Anything we missed, Mary Suevians? Let us know what you saw in the comments below!

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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh.

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