T.J. Holmes & Amy Robach Defend David Muir Over Clothespin Controversy

T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach are defending their former colleague David Muir.

Earlier this week, David, 51, found himself in a bit of controversy as ABC World News Tonight viewers were quick to notice that he had clothespins cinching his flame-retardant jacket while reporting on the Los Angeles fires.

David faced a lot of backlash over the clothespins, with many accusing of him of caring more about how he looking on TV more than the disaster he was reporting on.

During the Friday (January 10) episode of their podcast Does This Make Me Look Fat?, T.J., 47, and Amy, 51, shared their perspectives on the incident.

Keep reading to find out more…“The perspective might be missing if you’re just reading tweets. The perspective might be missing in that, often times — and I don’t know if he does — travel with a producer or even a wardrobe person whose job is — you might be looking at your phone, getting the latest, looking at notes or doing something, and people are pulling and plugging things onto you, the mic and the IFB [in-ear monitor] and all these things,” T.J. explained. “You don’t even know what’s happening to you, and someone could’ve made the decision of ‘Let me do this with the jacket.’ We don’t know.”

“But just a little context, the guy works his butt off,” he added. “You don’t like what he did, fine. It’s just a lot to be piling on.”

However, T.J. did note that it looks bad for a TV reporter to be caught worrying about superficial aspects when reporting on an situation like these fires.

“The idea that people — even if the midst of a tragedy — about to anchor a main evening broadcast wouldn’t give a damn about how they look is just unreasonable,” T.J. said. “Now to what degree should they care is the issue and to what degree should they come off like they’re caring is then a separate issue, but of course he has to care and pay attention to how he looks before he goes on TV.”

He continued, “But if your house was on fire and you see a guy over there with a mirror brushing his hair doing all this before he goes on the air and reports about your tragedy, that’s going to piss you off.”

As for Amy, she said that when she was reporting out on the road, she made the conscious effort to not appear too “glamorous” by keeping her hair and makeup simple.

“I have taken great care as a journalist to not seem as though I’m concerned about how I look in that moment,” Amy said. “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.”

She then went on to defend David, saying that he doesn’t deserve all of the hate that he’s been getting.

“I don’t think he deserves the hate he’s getting,” Amy added. “I don’t think that is fair or appropriate in any way — and especially from people who’ve never had to be on television every day where your image, your looks are constantly being critiqued or acknowledged so you might have a hyper-awareness about that.”

As of right now, David has not publicly addressed the controversy.