No, ABC News did not fire moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis after the presidential debate

1 month ago 8

Readers asked us to VERIFY viral posts claiming the ABC debate moderators were fired. We found that the claims are false and stem from satirical articles.

ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis faced criticism from former President Donald Trump and his supporters after moderating the presidential debate between the former president and Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10.

Amid the backlash, viral posts began circulating on social media that claim ABC News fired Davis and Muir following the debate.

Two posts include a meme with side-by-side photos of Muir and Davis with this text: “ABC Fires Debate Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis: ‘They Are a Disgrace to Their Profession.’”

Multiple VERIFY readers also asked us if the claims about ABC News firing Muir and Davis are true.

THE QUESTION

Did ABC News fire presidential debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis?

THE SOURCES

THE ANSWER

No, ABC News did not fire David Muir and Linsey Davis.

WHAT WE FOUND

ABC did not fire David Muir and Linsey Davis after they moderated the presidential debate on Sept. 10. The false claims stem from satirical articles.

ABC News has not made any personnel announcements about Muir and Davis. Both of them have anchored newscasts since the debate, and can be seen in ABC News videos posted to YouTube on Sept. 15 and Sept. 16.

Bios for Muir and Davis are also still available on the ABC News website as of Tuesday, Sept. 17. Those bios say Muir is the anchor and managing editor of ABC World News Tonight with David Muir and co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20, and Davis is an anchor for "ABC News Live Prime” and weekend "World News Tonight" on Sundays.

The false claims stem from satirical articles published by spacexmania.com and esspots.com on Sept. 12, 2024.

The article published by spacexmania.com has a headline that reads, “Debate Moderators Linsey Davis And David Munir [sic] Reportedly Fired By ABC, ‘They Are A Disgrace To Their Profession.’” But that article is clearly labeled as “satire” in the upper left corner.

One of the viral Facebook posts shared by SpaceX Fanclub includes a link to an article published by esspots.com with the same headline spacexmania.com published and similar false claims. Esspots.com says it is a subsidiary of spacexmania.com “specializing in satire and parody.”

The esspots.com article has a satire label next to the dateline and includes a disclaimer at the bottom that says, “NOTE: This is A Satire Article, It’s Not TRUE.”

The meme in SpaceX Fan Club’s Facebook post is also clearly labeled as satire in the upper left corner and includes text in small print that says, “Nothing on this page is real. If you believe anything we post then you’re a potato crop.”

ABC News declined to comment about false claims that the network fired Muir and Davis.

The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »