Did the ABC television network fire the hosts of the September 10, 2024, U.S. presidential debate, calling them "a disgrace"? No, that's not true: A self-described satire and parody website published the story about the pair's supposed firing. Lead Stories found nothing authoritative to substantiate the claim that ABC fired the two.
The claim originated from an article (archived here) on Esspots.com. It was published on September 12, 2024, under the title:
ABC Fires Debate Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis: 'They Are a Disgrace to Their Profession'.
The article said:
In a move that shocked exactly zero people on Twitter but left the world of broadcast journalism reeling, ABC News has reportedly fired debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis following their controversial performance during Tuesday night's presidential debate. The network's statement, released late Wednesday, didn't mince words: 'David Muir and Linsey Davis are a disgrace to their profession.'
This is what the article looked like at the time of the writing of this fact check:
(Source: Esspots.com screenshot taken on Thu Sep 12 15:02:17 2024 UTC)
Journalists David Muir And Linsey Davis, who moderated the September 10, 2024, presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, have been with ABC since the 2000s (archived here). During the debate, they fact-checked (archived here) some of the voiced claims live.
The Esspots article about the pair's supposed firing contained prominent markers that it was a piece of satire. The word "SATIRE" coud be seen twice in the line that contained the article's publication date and search keywords. The closeup screenshot of the title below shows the words circled in red: 
(Esspots.com screenshot taken on Thur Sep 12 22:56:00 UTC 2024 )
At the bottom of the article, a disclaimer stated:
NOTE: This is A Satire Article, It's Not TRUE.
Esspots.com's About page (archived here) states that its stories are all about "bringing you the latest and greatest in fake news and absurdity ...." :
Welcome to the US page of Esspots (A Subsidiary of SpaceXMania.com specializing in Satire and Parody News), your one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary about the United States of America. Our team of writers and editors is dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest in fake news and absurdity, all with a healthy dose of humor and satire.
SpaceXMania's About page (archived here), in turn, spells out that its mission is:
To bring you the freshest fake news, some sassy analysis, and a good dose of satire, all rolled into one crazy concoction that orbits around Elon Musk and everything that's lighting up the viral/trending charts.
The Esspots article was published less than 24 hours after Trump had used the word "disgrace" to refer to the moderators in a September 11, 2024, post on TruthSocial (archived here). He also called on ABC News to "fire everybody ..."
(Source: TruthSocial screenshot taken on Thu Sep 12 16:31:36 2024 UTC)
A search across Google News on September 12, 2024, for the keywords seen here (archived here) led to no reports from credible news organizations that ABC had fired Muir or Davis. A Google search for other keywords from the article (archived here) -- such as the supposed ABC statement, for instance -- led only to one article about the Esspots satire.
As of this writing, the ABC News website still described Muir (archived here) as "the anchor and managing editor of ABC World News Tonight" and Davis (archived here) as "an anchor for 'ABC News Live Prime,' ABC News' award-winning streaming evening newscast, and weekend 'World News Tonight' on Sundays" and as "a correspondent filing reports for 'World News Tonight,' 'Good Morning America,' '20/20' and 'Nightline.'"
ABC News declined to comment to Lead Stories about the Esspots claim.
Other Lead Stories fact checks about the 2024 U.S. presidential election can be found here.
