A transgender soldier has been forced to deny that she was the pilot of the helicopter that fatally collided with a jetliner after she was falsely accused by social media users.
Jo Ellis, who is an Army Black Hawk pilot, confirmed in a video posted to Facebook that she is alive and had no involvement in the tragic Wednesday night crash near Washington, D.C. that claimed 67 lives.
Ellis’ involvement was alleged by a number of social media posts that cited no evidence and blamed her transgender identity for the incident. Many of the posts came from explicitly pro-MAGA accounts.
Over the past two days, President Donald Trump and his allies have argued that Democrat-instituted DEI policies were in part responsible for the crash.
“Interesting morning,” Ellis said in the Facebook video. “I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C., and that is false. It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this.”
“Know that I’m alive and well, and this should be sufficient to end all the rumors,” Ellis added.
Although it’s not clear where the rumor originated, it picked up so much traction on Friday morning that it was covered in the international press.
One X post accusing Ellis, which came from user @MikeDePorch45, whose profile photo features Trump’s silhouette, read, “So now we’re learning that the Pilot/Co-Pilot ‘female’ who was on the Blackhawk is actually a transgender who wrote a long letter ONE DAY PRIOR about ‘Gender dysphoria’ and depression.”
“Jo Ellis has also been making radical statements about Trump on social media,” the post read.
It also suggested that the incident could have been a “suicide mission” and asked, “How are they going to cover this up?”
It was viewed almost 160,000 times.
Another post pushing the lie was viewed more than 500,000 times before it was deleted shortly after Ellis spoke out.
“So it turns out the pilot of the blackhawk helicopter that crashed into the American Airlines flight killing everybody onboard was a transgender pilot, Josiah Ellis, or Jo Ellis was the pilot of the Blackhawk,” wrote user @brijoyce. “He tried to take out 3 other passenger planes before the crash.”
Many of the posts referenced an article Ellis wrote on the site Smerconish.com a day before the crash. It reflected on Ellis’ journey from being a self-described “conservative” before re-thinking her political beliefs and transitioning in 2023.
According to the article, Ellis joined the Virginia Army National Guard in 2009. She deployed to Iraq in 2011, and earned an Air Medal for her achievements as a helicopter gunner.
Although she had felt uncomfortable with the gender she was assigned at birth as early as the age of five, Ellis only transitioned two years ago, while in the military.
“In 2024 I came out to my unit and started presenting publicly as a woman,” she wrote. “Once again, I was met with overwhelming support from my unit at large. For obvious reasons, I was nervous I’d be unwelcome or make other females feel uncomfortable with my presence in the barracks, restrooms, etc. Many female soldiers in my unit offered their support. Some even went out of their way to make me feel comfortable in their space.”
“I’ve served in the same unit for 15 years,” she added. “I want to serve at least 15 more. I love my state and I love my country.”
Ellis’ hope to continue serving her country may be difficult however after Trump issued an executive order on Monday night to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military. A group of soldiers have already challenged the ban, saying it violates the constitutional rights of transgender people.
On Friday, Trump, joined by Elon Musk, has continued to push the narrative that DEI policies were to blame for the crash.
