The Rumor: ABC News Dismissed Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis

A Facebook post from September 13 (direct link, archive link) featured images of ABC News journalists David Muir and Linsey Davis, who were the moderators for the September 10 presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

The caption of the post read, “ABC Fires Debate Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis: ‘They Are a Disgrace to Their Profession.’”

This post gained traction, being shared over 2,000 times in just three days.

Verdict: False

This claim is unfounded. It arose from a satirical website but was later presented as real news by others.

Misleading Claim About ABC News Moderators is Fake News

During the debate, Muir and Davis fact-checked Trump live, which sparked his criticism. The former president has urged ABC to lose its broadcasting license, insisting the network was biased against him. However, the network remains operational, and both anchors still have their jobs.

The rumor about Muir and Davis being fired originated on September 12 from Esspots, a satirical site within the SpaceXMania network. This site includes a satire disclaimer, and the original post was marked as such, as well as a Facebook post linked to the article within a SpaceX Mania-related group.

However, this disclaimer was absent from later posts that restated the claim.

The September 13 Facebook post exemplifies “stolen satire,” where content created as a joke is shared in a way that misrepresents it as genuine news. Consequently, those who viewed the second-generation post were misled.

There have been no official confirmations that ABC terminated the employment of either Muir or Davis. Hours after the rumor began circulating on September 12, Muir was anchoring ABC World News Tonight.

YSL News reached out to the social media user who posted the claim for clarification but did not receive a reply promptly.

Lead Stories has also refuted this claim.

Sources for Our Fact-Check:

• Esspots, Sept. 12, ABC Fires Debate Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis: ‘They Are a Disgrace to Their Profession’
• SpaceX Fanclub, Sept. 12, Facebook post
• ABC News via YouTube, Sept. 12, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir Full Broadcast – Sept. 12, 2024