Trans Pilot Sues Right-Wing Influencer Who Falsely Linked Her To Deadly D.C. Crash
Jo Ellis had nothing to do with the D.C. air tragedy—but that didn’t stop a right-wing influencer from making her the face of it.
Jo Ellis, a transgender pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard, has filed a defamation lawsuit against conservative influencer Matthew Wallace after he falsely and repeatedly identified her as the pilot in a deadly helicopter collision that killed 67 people near Washington, D.C. in January.
Ellis, a decorated Black Hawk pilot with over 15 years of service, was nowhere near the crash site on January 29. Yet within hours of the tragedy, her face, gender identity, and military service were dragged into a viral conspiracy. The claim? That a transgender pilot was responsible for the worst U.S. commercial aviation incident in over a decade.
Wallace, a right-wing content creator with more than 2 million followers on X, shared a post from a secondary account alleging the pilot involved was transgender. That post included a photo of Ellis and launched a firestorm of transphobic vitriol. He would go on to post two more times about her, one of which referenced a podcast interview where Ellis had expressed unease about Donald Trump’s now-blocked trans military ban. Another post questioned her involvement in “another trans terror attack”—an inflammatory phrase that garnered nearly 5 million views.
None of it was true.
“I want to hold this person accountable for what they did to me,” Ellis said in a statement to NBC News. “It’s become too common that people can say horrible things about someone, profit at their expense, and get away with it.”
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Though Wallace eventually posted “corrections” after Ellis released a Facebook video confirming she was alive and had no connection to the crash, the damage was already done. Her name had trended on X, and she became a lightning rod for transphobic harassment. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Colorado (where Wallace is believed to reside), alleges Wallace “concocted a destructive and irresponsible defamation campaign” to capitalize on a lie.
The legal complaint, backed by the Equality Legal Action Fund, paints a clear picture of calculated exploitation: Wallace didn’t start the rumor, but he elevated it. According to Ellis’s legal team, he was the first high-profile user to attach Ellis’s photo and name to the baseless story, causing her image and identity to circulate widely, inaccurately, and dangerously.
“It seemed very strategic,” said Meg Phelan, Ellis’s attorney. “That was really why we zeroed in on Matt Wallace.”
The lawsuit details how Ellis’s life was abruptly upended. Once a private citizen with minimal online presence, she awoke on January 31 to find herself the second-most trending topic on X. She quickly became the target of relentless threats, including credible death threats. Some messages wished she had been on the helicopter. Others accused her of killing people. Many were soaked in hate.
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“I feared for the safety of my family and myself and had to arrange private armed security,” Ellis said. “When I go out in public I have to look over my shoulder now.”
Ellis’s Facebook “proof of life” video was a plea to stop the chaos. “It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda,” she said. “They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this.” But the damage couldn’t be undone so easily.
Adding insult to injury, a Pakistani website listed her as a “rumored third pilot,” and the Daily Mail called her personal phone to confirm she was still alive. A lie that started as a tweet ballooned into a full-blown international smear campaign.
The suit underscores the harm that unchecked online misinformation causes—particularly when it intersects with anti-trans sentiment. In recent years, false claims have regularly tried to tie trans people to violence. From Uvalde to now D.C., trans people have been used as scapegoats in moments of national tragedy.
“I feel strongly about free speech,” Ellis told The Guardian. “But I also feel strongly about consequences to free speech when you use it to stir up a mob and impact someone’s life.”
Ellis continues to serve in the Virginia National Guard, but her world has permanently shifted.
“Sadly, my life is just different entirely,” Ellis said. “I’m not too far from D.C., so if I go up there, people recognize me, and I kind of have to look over my shoulder because of the anti-trans rhetoric. I don’t know if I’m going to be recognized by someone who’s friendly or someone who doesn’t like the fact that I’m in the military and I’m trans.”
Yet even amid this, Ellis’s response is marked by grace. She’s pledged to donate any damages from the lawsuit to the families of those lost in the crash.
