A trans pilot in the National Guard is pushing back against false social media accusations that blamed her for the Washington helicopter crash.
Jo Ellis, a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot in the Virginia Army National Guard, addressed the baseless rumors in a Facebook post on Friday. The claims mirrored former President Donald Trump’s accusations that diversity initiatives caused the crash, which killed 67 people.
“Some craziness is spreading online, and people are wrongly naming me as one of the DC crash pilots,” Ellis wrote. She called the rumors insulting to the victims and their families, urging people to stop spreading misinformation.
Misinformation on Social Media Sparks Viral Attacks
Ellis posted screenshots of two X posts that falsely linked her identity as a trans woman to the crash. One user speculated that the pilot was trans, while another falsely accused Ellis of making radical anti-Trump statements. The second deleted the post and issued an apology.
Another verified X account with 13,600 followers shared a now-deleted post attacking Ellis and pushing conspiracy theories. Despite its removal, the post reached at least 195,000 views and was reshared nearly 1,000 times.
At the time of these corrections, “Jo Ellis” became the No. 3 trending topic on X, amassing 19,400 mentions. Even after Ellis debunked the claims, far-right accounts continued to spread hate speech and misinformation.
Trump and Conservatives Use DEI as a Scapegoat
In a Thursday memo, Trump blamed the crash on DEI initiatives, linking it to an Obama-era hiring policy at the FAA. He accused the Biden administration of abandoning merit-based hiring in favor of diversity programs.
However, neither Trump’s memo nor his press conference provided any evidence to support these allegations. When pressed for details, Trump failed to explain his claims, responding only: “Because common sense, and unfortunately, a lot of people don’t.”
Attacks on DEI policies have become a central theme of Trump’s MAGA platform. Elon Musk, for example, blamed California wildfires on diversity initiatives, while conservatives wrongly accused Los Angeles’ first Black woman mayor and its first openly gay fire chief of causing fire-related deaths.
Other tragedies have also been politicized. Rep. Dan Meuser linked the New Orleans New Year’s Day attack to DEI, and former Maryland gubernatorial candidate Phil Lyman blamed the Baltimore Key Bridge disaster on leaders who prioritized diversity.