Inside The Brutal Beef Between Former Fox News Host Megyn Kelly & ABC News Anchor David Muir

Megyn Kelly's tragic life story proved to have a happy ending. Having survived hardships including the early loss of her father, school bullying, and a health scare affecting her reproductive organs, she nonetheless persevered to become a respected journalist for NBC and Fox News before branching off to her own media company and podcast. Kelly has gained a loyal following for her right-leaning views and her take-no-prisoners approach. Not even her fellow journalists are immune from her critiques, and she has unleashed some of her most pointed jabs at David Muir for both his ethics and his presumed vanity.

Muir, long-time anchor of "ABC World News Tonight," was one of the moderators of the sole presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Later that night, as seen here on her Instagram page, Kelly blasted Muir and co-moderator Linsey Davis for "trying to sink Donald Trump" by fact-checking him live while letting Harris' statements go unchallenged. At one point in the evening, Muir asked Trump about remarks he had made which seemed to acknowledge he lost the 2020 election. Trump, who has long claimed that ballot fraud was responsible for Joe Biden's win, said the comments had been made sarcastically. Muir replied he had watched tapes of the incidents and "I didn't detect the sarcasm" (per RawStory). Kelly called him out on his apparent bias. "You're supposed to be the objective news anchor of 'World News Tonight.' That's a comment you make to your significant other, David," she said. "Shut up!"

Megyn Kelly's vitriol toward David Muir ratcheted up several levels in the midst of the devastating LA wildfires in which dozens of celebs tragically lost their homes, as did thousands of non-famous residents. Muir reported on the crisis from one of the rubble-strewn neighborhoods, but his somber message was quickly overshadowed by his clothing. The anchor was wearing a flame-retardant yellow coat; as he turned to point out a pile of ashes that had once been a home, the camera revealed the back of the coat nipped in by clothespins. It was widely thought — particularly by Kelly — that Muir had done the alteration to show off his trim build. 

Commenting on "The Megyn Kelly Show," the host noted that she'd never seen other male journalists concerned about their looks while covering disaster zones. Calling viewers' attention to the shot, Kelly blasted, "The abject vanity of this man. Why is he pretending to be a fireman? This is not dress-up time." She added that while she herself does try to look put-together for the camera, "this is a bridge too far."

Kelly repeated her critique on X (formerly Twitter) and got mixed responses. A few media-savvy respondents recognized the clothespin hack as a common practice to hold reporters' mic cords in place on location shoots. Kelly never responded to the fact-checkers, but a few rebuttals aren't about to stop her from going after Muir.