Do we like Brian Henson?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Nothing harmful found and a long career keeping his father's puppetry alive, but a messy Kermit firing and workplace claims against the company keep him off the top shelf.
Brian Henson is Jim Henson's son and now chairman of The Jim Henson Company. He grew up in the family business: he was puppet captain on Labyrinth and voiced a goblin, and he says the film deepened his bond with his father. He was at boarding school while The Dark Crystal was being made, but remembers his dad testing ideas in the backyard for years.
The messiest chapter is the 2017 Kermit stoush. After Steve Whitmire was dismissed as Kermit's performer, Brian told The Hollywood Reporter that Whitmire made “outrageous demands and often played brinkmanship”, and said Kermit had become too square. That's one side of a public fight, and the piece we read carried no statement from Whitmire, so treat it as Brian's account, not a verdict.
In 2022 The Hollywood Reporter reported that puppet wranglers at the company alleged workplace abuse, unsafe conditions and no union health care. The company's lawyer called the idea that it looks down on wranglers “ridiculous”, said it does not tolerate abusive behaviour and rejected the safety claims. Brian is named as co-head of the company, and one puppeteer said he is “a little more testy about” union costs, but the article accuses him of no specific misconduct.
On the harm check, we found nothing. No remarks against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet from him, and no run of work with people who push that stuff. His public line is that the Muppets are about loving people for their differences and valuing found family. To be straight with you, we found no direct statement from him on trans issues, so this is a clean pass by absence of anything bad, not a loud one.
The recent news is a legal one aimed at the company. In February 2026 former feature-film executive Jason Lust sued in Los Angeles, alleging the company breached a 2015 settlement over producer credits and bonuses and seeking at least $7.5 million. The company didn't immediately comment in TheWrap's report, and Brian isn't mentioned in it. Meanwhile the Labyrinth 40th anniversary re-release has been a feel-good run.
The good stuff is mostly craft and legacy: he's spent decades keeping puppetry on screens, and told io9 there will always be a place for it. We didn't find big charity or a cause he's stuck his neck out for, so the score is more about a clean record than a halo. A good bloke with one ugly public fight, and a company that's had some workplace claims to answer.