David Muir Prompts Strong Reactions After Wearing Clothespins on His Jacket Amid Fire Coverage

In the world of journalism and on-the-ground news reporting, ABC News reporter David Muir is one of the best. He's been on the ground in a number of high-profile situations, including wars, military exercises, political events, and more. With a rock-steady way of reporting and nerves of steel, David has become a trusted source of information for many Americans.

Which is why it may be so odd for many to see the reactions he's receiving online after putting some clothespins on his jacket. David has been covering the Pacific Palisades fires in Los Angeles, Calif., like many top journalists and reporters.

But when he turned to the side during a broadcast, people noticed the odd detail that his jacket appeared to have clothespins on the back of it.

Here's why people are buzzing so much about the clothespins, and what both his critics and supporters have to say about the move.

Reporting during natural disasters takes a special kind of person. Not only do they have to face potentially dangerous conditions on the ground, but they have to put aside their emotions seeing people flee their homes and weep in despair as the very air around them turns deadly.

David has always been a compassionate reporter who doesn't have a reputation for bothering people or being too pushy in the middle of a disaster.

So the fact that his jacket clothespins have inspired such a strong reaction is a little bit of a puzzler.

On X (formerly Twitter), one post calls him "narcissistic" and suggests that the reason the jacket is pinned back is to show off David's trim physique in his fire jacket.

Several people in the comments agree, with one person pointing out they feel as though he "only wants the right side of his face to be photographed," calling him a, "strange dude."

Another user added an eyeroll emoji and accused him of having bad priorities amid the devastating fires.

One person wrote, "He wanted to look more buff in his pretend fireman suit" and threw in a laugh emoji.

But not everyone is feeling the hate.

The majority of comments were supportive of David, with one person writing, "Someone risking their lives to reports news... 'Let's call him names and talk about his clothes.'"

Other users agreed, with one saying it's not narcissistic to want to look good while reporting the news.

Other people chimed in that it's pretty industry-typical, and that he may not have been involved in the decision to pin his clothes. It could have been done because an aide pointed out that his jacket was distracting, or because the flapping of the jacket in the wind was causing issues for the microphones they were using during broadcast.

Another X user mused, "People get mad over anything now, he's out there reporting on the front lines and with no mask so relax people."

Whether or not David's clothespins were a fashion choice on his part of the part of his aides, or whether it was designed with sound quality in mind, it's safe to say that he has bigger things on his plate at the moment than how well his fire jacket fits.

By midday Jan. 9, 2025, over 2,000 structures had been consumed by the flame, five people had lost their lives, and over 130,000 residents were under evacuation orders.

Compared to those horrifying numbers, David's jacket seems like a minor detail.