REPORT: David Muir’s ABC News Colleagues ‘Horrified’ By His Latest Stunt: ‘Egomaniac’

David Muir is managing to overshadow the raging Los Angeles fires, which have fueled wall-to-wall cable news coverage this week, with his own controversial trip into the field, and it’s ticked off some of his “horrified” colleagues at ABC News who are calling the veteran news anchor an “egomaniac” for his stunt.

Insiders began speaking up about the Muir they know when the camera is off, a man they say is less focused on empathizing with the victims of tragedies he covers and more interested in ensuring he always has the proper lighting rig, makeup team, and outfit coordination to fit the moment. In this case, it was Muir’s decision to don a yellow fireman’s jacket and head into the ashes of Palisades, the western LA conclave reduced to blackened rubble by wildfires that have raged for more than three days. Turning partially away from the camera, Muir gestured to some of the devastation behind him during a live shot, revealing a wooden clothespin holding his oversized jacket in place to ensure he kept cutting a trim figure for his viewers. The stunt wasn’t surprising to those who work with Muir and spoke out anonymously, caricaturing the 51-year-old as a cross between Ben Stiller’s Zoolander and Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy, the eccentric 70s lead character from the comedy series “Anchorman.”

Wearing a clothespin to maintain his svelte hero’s look was a “narcissistic” but par-for-the-course move by Muir. One ABC insider, furious to see Muir’s Instagram feed filled with tight black t-shirts while he’s out on assignment, snarked, “It’s pathetic. All flexed muscles and posing. He’s actually Zoolander meets Anchorman. He forgets he is the face of ABC News, not Abercrombie & Fitch!” Another claimed that it was unprecedented to alter an ABC News jacket to appear like a firefighter’s uniform, saying they had “never” seen a correspondent try so hard to “match the first responders.” One of the same sources slammed Muir for “trying to look ‘hot’ during a fire” which has so far killed at least 10 and destroyed over 34,000 homes, buildings, and other structures across Palisades, Eaton, and other parts of greater LA. News coverage “shouldn’t be about vanity, it should be about people losing their homes,” the source said to the Daily Mail.

Nice Jacket Bro. Glad you look nice and svelte with those clothes line pegs, while our city burns to the ground. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/bGQ3zvF6lr

— Jack Osbourne (@JackOsbourne) January 9, 2025

ABC insiders reported that ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic, informally dubbed Muir’s “security blanket” internally, was on the ground for his live shot. Page Six noted it’s extremely unusual for such a high-level executive to accompany a network star on an assignment unless they are moderating a presidential debate or interviewing a high-profile individual. Asked for comment, a spokesman for Muir denied that his focus was anywhere other than on telling the stories of the fire’s victims. “Here’s an anchor standing in the middle of horrific wildfires where people have lost everything,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Page Six. “David is solely focused on the people who are suffering and the heroic efforts of the firefighters — and that’s what everyone should be focused on.”

Regardless, the controversy mushroomed into an internet pile-on after Jack Osbourne first shared a clip of Muir’s clothespin fashion faux pas. “Nice jacket bro. Glad you look nice and svelte with those clothes line pegs, while our city burns to the ground,” the television critic wrote on Wednesday. “He’s a fraud from head to toe,” journalist Paul V Rea replied, calling the host of World News Tonight “basically a hair model reading a script.” Given the sartorial flair of Muir in a moment of mass tragedy, it’s not surprising to see why he and George Stephanopoulos remain in a bitter power struggle to retain the top perch in the network’s news department.