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Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy have announced their split after 30 years of relation.

In a joint statement posted on Twitter Miss Piggy and Kermit say they will continue to work together on The Muppets.

They released the same statements on their Twitter accounts explaining they had been “squabbling”.

The new series of The Muppets will air this fall and it will be aimed at an adult audience touching on subjects The Muppets have never talked about.Kermit and Miss Piggy split

“After careful thought, thoughtful consideration and considerable squabbling, we have made the difficult decision to terminate our romantic relationship,” the ex-lovers said.

To quote Miss Piggy, both stars have “moved on” following the split.

In a film released on YouTube, it is revealed that Kermit is now seeing a brunette sow called Denise.

“She works in the ABC promotion department,” he said.

“Her name is Denise. She’s a pig. I have a things for pigs.”

Miss Piggy is in a relationship with the actor Topher Grace.

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Lady Gaga and Elton John are to appear with The Muppets for a one-off TV special in America next month.

Lady Gaga will star alongside the puppets in a 90-minute special on American network ABC.

Lady Gaga & The Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular will air on November 28 for Thanksgiving.

Elton John and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are among the other guests who will be a part of the show.

It’s the second time Lady Gaga, 27, has been part of the ABC’s holiday special.

“I was so excited when ABC called me about doing a holiday special this year,” said Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga & The Muppets' Holiday Spectacular will air on November 28 for Thanksgiving

Lady Gaga & The Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular will air on November 28 for Thanksgiving

“I knew it just wouldn’t be a complete night of laughter and memories without The Muppets!”

In 2009, Kermit the Frog was Lady Gaga’s date to the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).

“Can’t wait to see the gang again and I hope Miss Piggy’s still not mad about Kermit. We’re just friends!”

In a statement from ABC, Kermit the Frog said: “What an incredible opportunity!”

“We have a long history with Ms. Gaga, so we jumped at the chance to do a holiday special with her.”

Lady Gaga also wore a dress made of Kermit the Frog toys on German TV in the same year as her appearance with him at the VMAs.

“We won’t even mind if she mistakes some of the Muppets for pieces of her wardrobe, again,” added Kermit.

Lady Gaga is also set to perform at the first YouTube Music Awards with Eminem and Arcade Fire, among others.

The singer will appear on Sunday’s (October 27) X Factor results show.

It was announced that Lady Gaga will perform Venus from her upcoming third studio album Artpop, which is scheduled to be released in November.

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The Iron Lady

James Bobin, director of the hit children’s movie The Muppets, defended his stars – Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy – saying the iconic puppets are not communists.

Commentators on Fox Business News sparked controversy – and some outrage -when they claimed the new movie is liberal propaganda because the villain is an oil executive named Tex Richman.

James Bobin says the remarks were from two commentators trying to fill airtime.

“Cable news is 24 hours long so you have to fill it up with something. No, the Muppets are not communist,” James Bobin told the Hollywood Reporter.

James Bobin, director of the hit children's movie The Muppets, defended his stars - Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy - saying the iconic puppets are not communists

James Bobin, director of the hit children's movie The Muppets, defended his stars - Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy - saying the iconic puppets are not communists

In a segment on the Fox Business News show Follow the Money, host Eric Bolling asked guest Dan Gainor whether the movie was liberal propaganda.

“This oil muppet, evil man that he is, is called Tex Richman,” Eric Bolling said.

“It’s amazing how low the left will go just to stoop to give your kids the anti-corporate message,” Dan Gainor replied.

Later in the segment Eric Bolling asks: “Is liberal Hollywood using class warfare to brainwash our kids?”

The answer, James Bobin says, is absolutely not.

“It’s a very strange turn of events to hear a question like that,” he said.

“And the character of Tex Richman is not an allegory for capitalism in any way. The character is called Tex Richman. It’s a joke. Clearly he is a classic, old school bad guy. He’s bad not because he works for an oil company but because he’s evil. No, it’s not a communist movie in any way.”

James Bobin was at the Dubai Film Festival in the United Arab Emirates when he spoke out about the accusations against Jim Henson’s famous muppets.

The director also dished on working with the infamously difficult Miss Piggy: “She was a doll… obviously.”

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Paul Frank’s sock puppet-inspired simian Julius The Monkey makes its debut as a 41-foot-tall balloon at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2011 in front of millions of spectators today.

Sporting a jetpack, Julius joins 14 other giant balloons, including fellow newcomer B., a freakish creation from filmmaker Tim Burton. Video game character Sonic the Hedgehog returns after an 18-year absence.

The helium heavies were inflated on Wednesday across the street from the western side of Central Park. Thousands of people, many families with children in tow, were drawn to the spectacle of the balloons lying as if asleep on the streets, held down by weighted nets.

Standing in front of the famed Snoopy balloon, lying on its side, eight-year-old Emilio Rios said he was glad that there was something to keep the helium giant from getting away.

“Otherwise, it would float up to space, and aliens would see it,” Emilio Rios said.

“They would be the ones with the parade.”

Lindsay Ravetz, 9, said she loved seeing all the characters

“It’s just, like, cool,” she said.

It was cool even for many of the adults. Brooklyn resident, Leslie McCarthy from, who said she’s over 60, has been attending the parade since she was a little girl. And the excitement of seeing the big balloons hasn’t worn off.

“I used to think this parade was put on for me,” she said.

Paul Frank's sock puppet-inspired simian Julius The Monkey makes its debut as a 41-foot-tall balloon at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2011

Paul Frank's sock puppet-inspired simian Julius The Monkey makes its debut as a 41-foot-tall balloon at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2011

 

Besides the popular giant helium balloons, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade also is expected to feature more than 40 other balloon creations, 27 floats, 800 clowns and 1,600 cheerleaders.

Organizers say Mary J. Blige, Cee Lo Green, Avril Lavigne and the Muppets of Sesame Street will participate, some taking the stage at the end of the route in Herald Square and others performing on floats.

About 3.5 million people are expected to crowd the Manhattan parade route on Thursday, while an additional 50 million watch from home.

National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Morrin said a storm was expected to speed away by Thursday morning, leaving mostly sunny skies and 10mph winds, well below city guidelines for grounding balloons.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade spokeswoman Holly Thomas said officials were monitoring the weather.

“The flight of our giant character balloons is based on real conditions about an hour before the parade begins and not advance forecasts,” Holly Thomas said in an email.

“There is no indication in any current weather models that the flight of these balloons will be affected.”

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade begins at 77th Street and heads south on Central Park West to Seventh Avenue, before moving to Sixth Avenue and ending at Macy’s Herald Square.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade got its start in 1924 and included live animals such as camels, goats and elephants. It was not until 1927 that the live animals were replaced by giant helium balloons. The parade was suspended from 1942 to 1944 because rubber and helium were needed for World War II.

Since the beginning, the balloons have been based on popular cultural characters and holiday themes. Returning favourites this year include Buzz Lightyear, Clumsy Smurf, SpongeBob SquarePants and Kermit the Frog.

Also making their first appearances at this year’s parade are a pair of bike-powered balloons, one featuring a bulldog character and an elf balloon designed by Queens resident Keith Lapinig, who won a nationwide contest.

All the balloons are created at Macy’s Parade Studio, and each undergoes testing for flight patterns, aerodynamics, buoyancy and lift.

Over 12,000 cubic feet of helium to keep the new Julius the Monkey balloon afloat, which stands 41ft tall.

Also making their first appearances at this year’s parade are B., a freakish creation from filmmaker Tim Burton, a pair of bike-powered balloons, one featuring a bulldog character and an elf balloon designed by Queens resident Keith Lapinig, who won a nationwide contest

24 hoses and 20 tons of sand were used to tie the inflated characters down before the big event.

Organizers say Mary J. Blige, Cee Lo Green, Avril Lavigne and the Muppets of Sesame Street will participate, some taking the stage at the end of the route in Herald Square and others performing on floats.

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Google celebrates Jim Henson 75th birthday anniversary featuring a doodle with 5 Muppets.

 

Jim Henson Google Doodle

Jim Henson Google Doodle

 

The logo is HTML5-powered and it is interactive, clicking on the circle below each character, it follows the cursor with its eyes, and double-clicking on one, it opens its mouth. One of them throw its glasses, and other eats its neighbor.

Brian Henson, Jim Henson‘s son, is now chairman of the Jim Henson Company.

He loved gadgets and technology. Following his lead, The Jim Henson Company continues to develop cutting-edge technology for animatronics and digital animation, like this cool Google doodle celebrating Jim’s 75th birthday. But I think even he would have found it hilarious the way today some people feel that when they’ve got their smartphone, they no longer need their brain.” Brian wrote in Google’s blog.

 

"The Muppets were a family" for Jim Henson.

"The Muppets were a family" for Jim Henson.

 

He loved dogs, particularly goofy ones. And he lived for those moments when everyone laughed so hard they couldn’t talk,” Brian Henson said. He recalled his father’s passion for games, being allowed to stay up late to watch his father’s appearance on TV, and his father’s feeling that “the Muppets were a family.”

This is the second time when Google pays tribute to Jim Henson on its homepage. Google replaced its logo with a rotating cast of Sesame Street characters honoring the 40th anniversary of the television show Sesame Street, two years ago. Jim Henson was asked to help with this show in 1969.

 

Jim Henson helped with Sesame Street show

Jim Henson helped with Sesame Street show

 

Born in Greenville, Miss., in 1936, Henson created his fuzzy, goggle-eyed puppets in the ‘50s, and they soon began appearing on local television while he attended the University of Maryland (where he met his future wife and the show’s co-producer, Jane Nebel).

In 1969, Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and the rest of the lovable furry troupe began to appear on PBS’s new ”Sesame Street.” By the ‘70s, the Muppets gained a hit prime-time show (and Miss Piggy) and, soon, hit the big screen. (Their newest feature film is November’s ”The Muppets,” starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams.)” The Washington Post about Jim Henson.

 

Jim Henson and Kermit

Jim Henson and Kermit

 

 

Jim Henson was born on September 24, 1936 and died on May 16, 1990. The Public Broadcasting Service, which hosted Sesame Street, said he was ”the spark that ignited our fledgling broadcast service.”(New York Times)

 

Jim Henson was “our era’s Charlie Chaplin, Mae West, W. C. Fields and Marx Brothers,” said the chairman and chief executive of the company that produced Sesame Street. (New York Times)

Jim Henson Google doodle inspired people to create interesting animation, the Muppets singing Rolling in the Deep (Adele), Boom Boom Pow (the Black Eyed Peas), or Earth Angel (The Penguins), or Chop Suey! (System of a Down).

 

Dinosaurs was the last show Jim Henson produced.

Dinosaurs was the last show Jim Henson produced.

 

Jim Henson died of septic shock caused by lungs abscesses (Streptococcus pyogenes). On May 21, a public memorial service was held in New York City at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and . another one was held on July 2 at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London.

 

No one wore black (it was Jim Henson wish). Dixieland jazz band sang When The Saints Go Marching In, Harry Belafonte sang Turn the World Around (the song he had debuted on The Muppet Show), Big Bird (Caroll Spinney) sang Kermit the Frog’s signature song, Bein’ Green. Six of the core Muppet performers sang Jim Henson’s favorite songs, then Just One Person began with Richard Hunt singing alone, as Scooter.

As each verse progressed, each Muppeteer joined in with their own Muppets until the stage was filled with all the Muppet performers and their beloved characters,” Chris Barry recalled.

This image was recreated for the 1990 television special The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson and inspired Richard Curtis to write the growing-orchestra wedding scene of his 2003 film Love Actually.

 

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 Jim Henson Google Doodle: Muppets sing Boom Boom Pow (video)

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