Hey, folks, A news anchor's wardrobe choices while covering the LA fires has the Internet buzzing. Some of it's funny, some of it's petty, some of it's uncalled for, but it might be giving us a little more insight into the anger, frustration, and pain people in LA are experiencing right now. With that, Welcome to this episode of Amy
and TJ Rolds. We debated about getting into this conversation at all, but what we're talking about here is a guy that we know pretty well, you better than I, but a former colleague who's choice of jacket and how he was wearing it has everybody talking, So please do explain.
That's right.
So, the anchor of ABC World News tonight, David Muir, who often jumps on planes and heads straight into breaking news tragedies. I've been on those planes with him, and I've stood right next to him covering a lot of this sort of news story, and I can attest to the fact that he is a consummate professional. He takes his job very seriously, and he works very hard not just to get the information right, but to present it
in the best way possible. And look, he was covering the wildfires, and there were hurricane force winds described as almost tornatic. So he sinched his jacket, as many of us have done in the field and on the set, to create a cleaner line.
Wait, ropes, this is what we're talking about. This guy is covered, this is the story, guys covering the fire, people losing homes. He's standing on camera, he turns. People see that he's sensed his jacket, and they're saying, he's only doing this as a matter of vanity. That's where we are. We're not talking about this stuff. You're doing the studio. But I'm saying I'm trying to establish here that that he is being gripped for that reason. Should he be or should he not be, we'll discuss. But
that's what it is. He got busted sinching his jacket. And when people do that, they're usually trying to do.
What they are, trying to create a slimmer line. Look, television is one of those. It's a visual medium. And so yes, I have cinched my jacket. Have you sinched your jacket?
Not once ever, and certainly not in the field. But I've had plenty of people suggested, and I've had wardrobe folks come out Janetta. If I'm wearing a sweater, She'll even offer to do it. But no, I've never thought about it.
I'm actually I'm trying to think if I ever did it in the field. I definitely, one hundred percent did it on set. So you've got a boxy jacket, you have like.
A sweater, yes, and it looks a little large.
So I've had and I had a stylist and she would come up behind me and she would since I actually used a clothespin or a hairpin to since it.
I didn't do it. Someone did it for me.
I don't believe I've ever done it in the field, just because I've never had people to even check things out. I really thought about it, and I think maybe that's part of it too, just the thought that went into the look of something. When you have a massive tragedy unfolding behind you, with flames, people's homes, belongings, lives being lost, to even be concerned about how you look seems like a slap in the face to people who are dealing
with the worst possible situation. So I understand the anger and the fact that they're hurling it at him because they by seeing that clothespin. It looks like his focus was on himself instead of on the story he was covering.
That's understandable. And the son of Ozzy Osborne, Jack Osbourne, was somebody who got a lot of attention for posting this on Twitter on X and he said, nice jacket, bro, glad you look nice andce felt with those clothesline pegs while our city burns to the ground. That's kind of the sentiment. Some people are being a little funnier about it.
But if you're out there in LA and you don't know, if you're on the run and you see this guy on TV and it comes off, there's no question that's it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of somebody who is going through what they're going through in LA. There's no doubt about that.
Now.
I'll go further here in a second and possibly defend David, but there is no I can't explain that away. I understand, I get it. I got to understand that frustrations, but he lives out there and this guy is wait a minute, you're worried about that. Everybody has those jackets on, they're big, they're boxing. I don't know, now, what did ABC say
or excuse me that there is no official statement. There is no official statement, I should make that clear, but there are rumblings out there about it why he might have done this.
Well, as as we've pointed out, you know, anytime, especially when it comes to a news organization, no one's going to put their name behind it because they'd be fired if they were talking to press about people who they work with or for. But insiders inside ABC have reportedly given quotes to different news outlets or different entertainment outlets saying that yes, he's a combination of Zoolander meets Anchorman and that you're seeing the real David when you see
his vanity on full display. He didn't mean for you to see it because he turned to reference burning massive flames taking over a home, and when he did the turn, you could see the clothespin. So they were kind of saying, yeah, he's been exposed something we've all known for a very long time, and now you all get to see it.
So yes, people absolutely taking the opportunity to then say how they really feel about him or what they really think this means, and what people are seeing is actually what they've witnessed for years.
Look, some give you a more idea of what's out there. Now. That quote I gave you was from the Twitter or that tweet we still come tweets.
Yeah, but it's X but we can say they tweet.
It still tweets. David Muir of ABC cares more about how he looks than reporting the news. Mainstream media are scum. So a lot of people are obviously taking advantage or taking the opportunity to take shots at the media. And it's a lot of left and right kind of stuff out there. But I mean, he gave him some low hanging group.
Yeah.
Donald Trump Junior even jumped in saying, David Muir, the supposed moderator of my father's presidential debate who instead chose to be a participant, is so vain that as people in Los Angeles are losing everything, he used clothes pins to make his fake fireman's jacket more form fitting. Sick And then he went on to say, David Muir, Oh, is this is someone else? David Muir is a national embarrassment that's from someone else, But people are piling on, jumping on and well hurling shots at him.
ABC News reporter David Muir's top priority during the fires in California was apparently looking good on TV. No matter how much you hate the media, it's not enough. These people are disgusting the other. The frustration is understandable. I mean, upset at the governor, at the mayor. They're upset at then upset of the firefighters. Those guys are out there, guys and gals are out their busts and their butts. But there's frustration to seeing your life go up in flames.
Or a guy like Billy Crystal. I'm just only saying him because I remember he's talking about forty six years in a home and it's gone. Now you have people who have lost everything. They don't have anything except whatever they ran out of that house with. And for a story, it just stings. It has to hurt to some degree.
But the perspective might be missing if you're just reading tweets, the perspective might be missing in that oftentimes, and I don't know if he does travel with a producer or even a wardrobe person sometimes whose job is you might be looking at your phone getting the latest, or on the phone, or looking at notes or doing something and people are pulling and plugging things onto you. The mic
and the IFB and all these things. You don't even know what's happening to you, and someone could have made the decision to just let me do this with the jacket. We just don't know. But just a little context. The guy works his butt off. If you don't like what he did, find it just this is a lot to be piling on to.
This, That's what I was trying to allude to.
I guess starting it out just with the perspective of knowing him personally and knowing how hard he works and how much he does care about the stories he reports on, and also making note of the fact that this is a visual medium.
And I was telling you, you.
Know, look when we're when we're in tragedies and I'm out in the field, and I have certainly covered more than I even care to remember of the worst possible types of stories. You know, I ended up slicking my hair back in a pony tail because I didn't want to have a distracted like hair style like you know you where I was aware at least, and I think most of us are aware that heavy makeup and overdone hair and worrying about your wardrobe when you're talking about
mass shootings or a yes. In this case, a massive wildfire taking lives and homes and property and destroying people's.
Entire communities.
You would hope that journalists wouldn't really be thinking too much about how they look in that moment and care more about getting crucial, potentially life saving information to folks.
And at least, I mean, you think about this.
If you're home, you've had to evacuate, you don't know what's going on, you can't get close to your home. A lot of these folks who are directly affected are watching the TV NonStop. They are glued to their televisions trying to see if they can get a glimpse of their community, their street, their friends and neighbors, and their homes. So they're watching and looking at every detail, trying to see if they can get an idea of what's going on.
And then they see someone who is supposed to be there helping get that information to them seemingly care more about his presentation and how he looks than what's actually going on behind him.
And I think you know, and I understand that, and I know you have to take great care.
I have taken great care as a journalist to not seem as though I'm concerned about how I look in that moment. We all look different on the scene of these sorts of tragedies than.
We do on the set.
On the set, we've got hair and makeup and nice suits and fitted clothing. But when you're out there, it's just a very different environment.
But you use several words that I would love to unpack, as you hate when it's said, but you said, we said the word seemingly care more about use the word if an acre is worried, more about how they look, the seeming and the worry that coming off, as if you care about your appearance, versus caring about your appearance
every single person. Every place I've ever been, I've been out there in the middle of a tornado or something, and in the mids's about to go live, and I walk past the live truck and I'll still kind of look in at the reflection out of the window, just to see if my jacket is on straight or something. So the idea that people are even in the midst of a tragedy or about to anchor a main evening broadcast,
wouldn't give a damn about how they look. It's just unreasonable now to what degree should they care is the issue, and then to what degree should they come off like they caring is then a separate issue. But of course he has to pay attention and care about how he looks before he goes on TV. But if you saw a guy your house is on fire, and you see a guy over there with a mirror brushing his hair, and the I'm doing all this before he goes on and reports about your tragedy, that's gonna pis you off.
Yeah, that makes total sense. Yeah, it was funny when you said that.
I remember I have because when you're out in the field, you don't necessarily well, you don't have any of the normal sorts of either the people to help you make sure you're not disheveled. So yeah, I've actually looked in the lens of the camera before I went on because it's slightly reflective to make sure that my hair wasn't
sticking out crazy, especially if there are high winds. I mean, I've reported on too many hurricanes to even count, And yeah, you've got winds whipping and rain in your face, Like, do I have mascara like falling down my face? Is my hair like in a crazy place? Because or like literally the reflection of the camera lens, just to make sure that I'm not looking disheveled.
I was telling you this.
Someone once said, don't ever apologize for just doing that one last check to make sure you don't.
Have something sticking out or something looking.
Strange, because if you do, this is the truth, folks at home who are watching will go, oh my god, look at her hair or what's going on with her face, and they won't hear anything you said. And so I was told, just make sure your appearance isn't a distraction. And so that was kind of the lane I tried to stay in when I was covering these things. It's not about looking good or looking glamorous in any way, or looking like thin, whatever you want an adjective you.
Want to put on there.
It was about not being a distraction. And that was kind of what I always thought about before. I want to just make sure nothing I'm wearing or nothing about my appearance is distracting.
Good or bad. Actually, because there have been some distractions that people have done, like that's not a good jacket. Why does she go with that? Like intentional?
They'll be just appropriate.
Clothing is a huge part of it.
You don't want to wear a bright color when you're talking about something sad like. There were all these things that go into consideration when you're covering things that are heavy and tough and scary and important.
You don't your.
Clothing choices, how you wear your hair, how much makeup you have on. All of that is considered before you get in front of the camera.
I do want to give credit to this. I don't know who this young lady is. I should looked at a profile. Maybe she was a comedian, but her response in a tweet about was oh my god, leave David and you're alone. His felt figure and Miss America hands maybe the only sliver of happiness people see amongst the horrific devastation of this catastrophe. Soften the blow, people, soften the blow.
I mean, that's some humorous perspective there. And the one thing I you and I have discussed this, the one thing that did not ring true for me that I didn't love seeing as a potential response or defense, was that somehow using the clothes pin to tighten his jacket helped with the audio that for me didn't really ring true. I have been in plenty of hurricanes, I know you have done a lot of tornado coverage in your days.
I've never ever pinned a jacket because of the wind.
You could have maybe I've actually had like a necklace or something kind of bang on the you know that. Can you take that necklace off because it might hit the microphone? Certainly there are things to conc with the microphone, and a wind guard.
Is really usually good enough.
So we all, when we're all reporting in whether of any kind, our amazing audio guys and gals will give us a windscreen and you put that on top of the mic, or if you're holding a mic.
It wind what was the wind gonna it is gonna be flapping too loud?
That is that is simply a response that did not ring true for me, and that was I think unfortunate because that seemed like a desperate attempt to explain away something that we all know the truth to. He wanted his or someone wanted his jacket to not be his boxy for whatever reason.
Let me ask you directly, if he asked for it to be pinned for that specific reason, should we still be taking him.
I don't think he deserves the hate he's getting. I mean, I'm looking at some of the stuff on Twitter, the new face of being a douche. The next one, as I've been saying for a while now, David Muir is
a douche. I don't think that that is fair or appropriate in any way, and especially from people who've never actually had to be on television every day where your image, your looks are constantly being critiqued or acknowledged, and so you might have a hyper awareness about that, and so he wanted his jacket to fit better.
That is what I believe happened.
And both of those things can be true. That you care about your appearance while also caring about the story you're doing and busting your butt on the story you're doing. Those both two things can be true. But we have to I still will acknowledge. It looks bad now, understand for people, especially those out there who are going through that hell. I understand, you know what.
I wanted to share something that I experienced very early on in my career, and it's not exactly the same situation, but it makes sense to me. When people are living through the worst moments of their life, that's all they're thinking about, that's all they care about, and that's understandable. I was in bond court and we were there covering and waiting for a specific prisoner to come out. He
was accused of something horrific. But when you're in bond court, there are a lot of people, family members even, who are there waiting to see their loved ones come out because they've been accused of a crime. We were in the hallway, a bunch of US reporters and cameramen waiting for this particular person to come out, and you know, someone had told a joke about something that happened the
night before, and we were laughing. We were just in our own world and we were walking into the bond court, into the courtroom, and I was laughing at something that someone else had said. A woman stood up and said, you think this is funny, You think this is funny.
And I think she believed that we were there for her or her loved one, and she actually jumped on me, knocked me to the ground and almost threw a punch in my face, except for the bailiff was able to pull her out and the judge got involved, and anyway, it was fine. I didn't get hit, but with my heart was pounding, I was just like, how dare this woman? And then I stepped back to think about it in her mind, in her world, we were laughing when she
was in pain. We weren't being considerate of where she was in her life, in her world in that courtroom, and it was lost on me in that moment I wasn't on camera. But still sometimes as journalist we don't realize just how impacted people feel when they see something that we're doing that we don't realize is somehow, in some way offending them.
I get that. I'm just going back to David and the offense. Is it still an insight told if nobody knew about it, Is he still disrespecting the community, if he made sure he looked a certain way or the way he wanted to look on TV? I don't know
the answer to that. I'm just saying those are the things we are now debating in the that Like you say, to your point, that woman in that room, these folks in California, this is this is my time, in one of the worst days of my life, and whatever's going on in your world right now, you need to be respectful because I'm having the worst day than you are.
And you know what I think that's what it is.
You nailed it, and we all see things through our own lens. David sees things through his lens that he wanted to be presentable, He wanted to look his best,
even though obviously people were dealing with their worst. People who are the victims of this fire are seeing things through their perspective, through their lens, and they it's it's unthinkable to them that someone could even be considering their appearance in the middle of all of this chaos, in the middle of all of this tragedy, and that's unthinkable
to them. But it's I think we can all give each other a break if you acknowledge that this is about perspective, It's about your frame of reference, and the fire victim's frame of reference is understandably vastly different than David or any other reporter's frame of reference.
They have a job to do.
Well, folks, stay with us here when we come back, Robes, I'm going to ask you this, would this story be different if that anchor was a woman? All right, Welcome back, folks. Here discussing what is being discussed in many circles, in many places on social media, on the Internet, and very
much a fiery way. A lot of people talking about ABC News anchor David Muir was seen on air having the back of his fire jacket, since people thought he cared more about his appearance than the people who are losing everything there, but just was a bad look at
the time. But robe we were talking about this, I think in an elevator earlier today, what if this story, what if that had been a woman, a female anchor out there covering the same story, the same spot, doing the same thing, and that had been seen on the air, You think this would be any different.
I do think it would be different.
I do think that people almost it sounds awful, but I think they expect women to be vain in a way that they don't expect men to be. And I think, you know, from makeup to hair, you know, hair and makeup, that's something that women do to present themselves in a more glamorous way or in a more beautiful way. So to since your jacket would make sense because that's also you doing kind of the same thing as putting lipstick on,
putting you know. Someone even pointed out in their criticism of David that he looked like he had a bunch of makeup on, So no one would say that to a woman.
No one would say that.
To a woman who was covering a tragedy and had mascara on. I've even noted, you know, I've seen women reporting on very serious stories with massive false eyelashes on.
No one points that out.
So I do think if we're all being honest, I don't think that people might have pointed it out, and it might have been a little something. I don't think we would have seen anywhere near the level of hate and vitriol that we have seen leveled or hurled against David if it were a female.
Even possible this would have been a non story if it was one.
I think it is possible.
I think it is absolutely possible that it would be a non story if it were a woman. A man seeming to be vain for whatever reason is far more offensive than a woman appearing to be vain.
That's my opinion.
What do you think, Well, I've I couldn't get my seeing, you know, seeing the story. Honestly, It's never crossed my mind to do anything like that. When I've been out in the field my entire career. I've not just reportings at times, I've anchored tons of stuff all over the world and been on the air on anchor type situations in coats, and I have never crossed my mind to do that. I've been in fire jackets, I've been in I've never thought to do that. That's fine, So it's
hard for me to understand. I guess some difference in vanity. You know this about why I'll go out in the field no makeup, they would always offer. I'm like, nah, I'm just going to even going on the air if I'm just doing a story and not if I'm anchoring, they'll put some powder on me. But if I am just gonna step out and do a report that day, I'm only going to be on a second on air for a minute or so, no need for makeup.
But you're you're the rarity because I have worked with plenty of men in this business for decades, and almost all of them wear makeup.
Well, I were make up when I anchor, So I'm not trying to.
Say studio lights, studio lights, Okay, Yeah, I mean I wear minimal makeup in the field, minimal because of that very reason.
But to that point, it always seemed to me that there was I work in TV. So I understand seeing a guy where they're putting on a lot of makeup, putting on his own makeup or caring about his makeup, or in the mirror with his hair is just the normal thing to me. So I don't think anything of it when I see guys doing things like that that come off as vain.
I don't think because we've seen it for so many years in newsrooms and out in the field. I've witnessed it myself now I like I have. Yeah, I'm with you in the field. I I don't think I've ever thought about pinning a jacket or any of that sort of thing. However, I have had in the studio. More often than not, it's someone else who says, can I pin this jack for you? Because they're seeing that it
doesn't look right or it's not hanging correctly. I mean, look, when you see mannequins when you're walking down the street, the outfits look so amazing, right, and then you turn around, you get into the store, and you see they all have been pinned because it looks better, It looks it makes you look thinner, it makes you look more athletic. You know, that is what you see in all of the storefront windows. None of those clothing almost always are
just hanging. They are pinned and designed to look and fit a certain way.
And so.
I've had people offer to and do that for me on the set, but in the field, I just don't. I never had people. I wasn't important enough to have people in the field with me. So perhaps if I were in the field and I had a wardrobe person traveling with me and they said let me pin this, I'd probably say, okay, you know best.
You're looking at it.
You know. I've had them look at the camera and then come around and say you need this. So that very well may have been what happened with David. Someone who he traveled with, who is responsible for him looking a certain way he can't trust, yeah, and he might not certainly could not be focused on that. I think that's the criticism that instead of being focused on what was happening, he was focused on how he looked.
But it could be people.
It could be that people around him were looking at that for him and making that decision on his behalf. But please just acknowledge that it was an aesthetic. It was not about the audio. That's all I ask because you know what, I think people know when they hear something that's true, and they know when they hear something that sounds like a phony defense. And that did sound
like a phony defense. Now it did not come from David, to be clear, it came from a source, which yes, I'll roll my eyes on that, but someone trying to give another explanation other than vanity why that might have been taking place.
This story will be you've forgotten soon enough, but it's in the cycle now, and not for no reason. I get it. I mean, some of the stuff is silly, and it's petty, and it's unnecessary. Some people add a little levity to it. I don't mind that necessarily, but a legitimate frustration at seeing something like that is understandable. Can't take any issue with anybody who who's wondering if their home is still standing and looking up at this gallo TV and that's just a bad look, period, point blank.
But we don't know exactly what happened. We don't exactly know who asked for it and why and all that. But even if it was to make it look a little better, I.
Think it's hard for a lot of us to know how the sausage is made. You know that people say you don't want to know. You know, this is common practice. It just is behind the scenes. And when you are at a certain level and you do have enough people around you, you do trust their calls sometime in those
moments about what's best and what's not best. And you know what, I love something you pointed out earlier, which was if no one had ever seen the clothespin, if you had just seen his fitted jacket, it wouldn't have been a story, it wouldn't have been an issue, it wouldn't have been anything. I don't believe anyone would have picked up on or pointed out. So it was just the turn and the exposure of what was really going on in the back that created the look that you
saw in the front. And that's unfortunate. And I you know, you google David Muir and the first thing you see is David Muir fire jacket, you know. And it will go away and it will get better, and we understand what headlines are. But I just wanted to say that it is a shame because I do think that he is an excellent reporter and puts himself out there, puts himself in plenty of and has put himself in plenty.
Of situations, works really.
Hard, tirelessly to make sure that people understand what's going on, to bring people the latest and greatest and important information. So I just I would hate for him to somehow appear as though he has no value, no journalistic integrity.
That's not fair.
This is something that was pointed out and something that people can have their feelings about. But I would hate to think that one moment defines an entire career or just puts into question someone's integrity. I think that's the hard pill to swallow for him and for people who have worked alongside him, that's not fair. I would just say it's not fair to take one moment or just the fact that he is yes concerned about how he
looks in front of the camera, and that's true. And I cared about how I looked in front of the camera.
And every single person you have ever seen on TV. Folks cares about what they look like on camera. Even if you look up at them and say, wow, they look a mess, they still cared about what they looked like. Every single person. If this is bothering you that much about these clips, y'all couldn't handle so many other stuff behind the scenes that goes on as you don't see, so many tricks and this and to make this look better and prop this up and ooh, it's crazy behind the scenes, and we're we're.
You know, David Muir is a human being, and I'm sure he will not be doing this again.
And I'm sure every single reporter who has.
Seen this happen thinks, WHOA, I am absolutely not going to do this again.
I mean, I've stood on boxes to be taller.
You know.
There are lots of things you do for an esthetic on the television so that one person isn't super short and one person isn't super tall, Like there are lots of things that you don't see at home that we're doing that if you actually took a we call it a dirty shot, but a shot of all the equipment and all the things that are happening, the bounce lights that are on you to make you look better, you know,
so that you don't look harsh. I mean, there are all sorts of tricks and aesthetics that are going on behind the scenes to make the reporter look more pleasant, perhaps even in incredibly unpleasant circum stances.
But folks out there in California. I mean, we are keeping an eye on it, We're thinking about you constantly. This is a historic tragedy at this point. And hats off to all those reporters out there who are in some very dangerous situations. We've seen, I guess Nick Watson one that's gotten a lot of attention, almost getting hit by debris while he was out there reporting. And they are just those hot spots. These things can pop up anywhere, so even it's not a fire right next to him,
they're still under threat. Always applaud the reporters who put themselves in harm's way and covering these stories.
And they are the lens by which people see what's happening. They are when you hear these stories and when you see these stories, and these reporters who are bringing them to you, and not just the reporters, the cameramen, the audio camera people. I shouldn't say cameramen, photographers, maybe that's a better way to put it. The audio personnel, the producers, the live truck operators, the SAT truck operators, all of the people who who are there away from their families,
working crazy long hours. It is to make sure that all of us who aren't there can see what's happening. It inspires people to open their wallets, It inspires people to help, It sends prayer chains a buzz. You know, all of this information is super important and you have
to have those folks on the ground bringing it to you. Yeah, they may not be saving lives directly, of course, but they are helping get really important information to people who need it the most and also letting all of us know how we can help, and that's all incredibly important in times like these and tragedies like these.
So, folks, we always, as always, we appreciate you spending some time with us. We will see you back here on Amy and TJ soon enough, but will of course continue to see you for the daily morning run. Well, for now, I'm TJ Holt.
And I'm Amy Roboch. Have a great day, everyone,