Military pilot Jo Ellis said she had to hire private armed security for her family because of the false claims, which went viral on social media.

Military pilot Jo Ellis said she had to hire private armed security for her family because of the false claims, which went viral on social media.

A transgender military pilot filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against a conservative influencer who falsely claimed on social media that she was flying the helicopter that collided with a commercial jet near Reagan National Airport in January, killing 67 people.

“I want to hold this person accountable for what they did to me,” Jo Ellis, a pilot who has served more than 15 years in the Virginia Army National Guard, 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.”

On Jan. 30, less than 24 hours after the crash, conservative influencer Matt Wallace, who has 2.2 million followers on the social media platform X, shared a post from another account he operates stating that the helicopter pilot was transgender, according to the lawsuit. Wallace included a photo of Ellis, and the post went viral, the lawsuit states.

  • ThePantser@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    I’m not talking to them in person, and they are not ambiguous. I was speaking from the point of not knowing the person on a level where it is public knowledge or personal knowledge. Nice try, trying to make this a personal attack.

    • Chip_Rat@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 days ago

      Misgendering someone is rude and disrespectful, regardless of if you do it to their face or anonymously online. You knew she identified as she, you made a choice to use ‘they’. And your “reason” (excuse) is cowardly.