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.

  • Skavau@lemm.eeEnglish
    35·
    3 months ago

    Soon after Ellis’ statement on Facebook, Wallace shared another X user’s post with Ellis’ video, writing that it was an “Important Update!” and adding that Ellis was not piloting the helicopter and is still alive. Wallace also wrote in another X post that the original rumor that Ellis had been flying the helicopter involved in the crash came from another account with the handle @FakeGayPolitics, which is no longer active. Wallace said the rumor “seemed credible” because Ellis, whom Wallace misgendered in his posts, “wrote an article calling out Trump’s trans military ban only a few days ago.”

    How does this logic work in his head?

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
      10·
      3 months ago

      I think their tiny-Trumpy-brained syllogism goes:

      1. Trans people bad.
      2. Helicopter crash bad.
      3. Therefore, trans people helicopter.

      Premise 1 is false, but other than that you simply can’t fault the logic.

    • Miles O'Brien@startrek.websiteEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      “if someone said anything negative about me, I would gladly murder dozens of people JUST to make them look bad, therefore this is perfectly believable!”

      That’s the logic.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
    17·
    3 months ago

    I wish them great success. Not only were they greatly wronged, which could cost future jobs, but in the rush for clicks, too many streamers think that freedom of speech also means free from the consequences of their words. That needs to change

      • ThePantser@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        32·
        3 months ago

        It’s my go-to way of speaking to people now too. I will either use just their name or use non gender pronouns. I figure I will avoid misgendering by not gendering.

          • firebyte@lemmy.world
            2·
            3 months ago

            Strong disagree. Using ‘they/them’ when you’re generally unsure about a person’s gender isn’t misgendering.

            I’m a binary trans woman. If someone is generally unsure about my gender, because it can be ambiguous from time to time, they/them when referring to me is perfectly acceptable. I would suggest most other people are fine with they/them in this instance as well.

            Pronouns can be quite a minefield to navigate, especially for those not used to using they/them when all they’ve ever known is binary terms growing up.

            Speaking as an ‘elder’ trans person, some pronouns in use, which are just as valid as mine!, are genuinely difficult to remember because there are so many of them. I’m talking about the ones that aren’t part of the English language in common use. I default to ‘they/them’ in those instances because using the person’s assigned gender at birth would be genuinely hurtful; I don’t want to hurt someone.

            I feel very much that our own, gender diverse, community is driving those outside of it away by being so strict with/overt policing of pronouns, that those who aren’t gender diverse find the whole ‘pronoun’ thing too complicated, then either refuse to engage with us or deliberately misgender because its easier. This is especially true for older conservative cis people.

          • motorwerks@sopuli.xyz
            21·
            3 months ago

            I don’t believe gendering ever has, or ever will be, required for communicating in the English language. Regardless of my personal beliefs regarding trans people, which are still unknown, I ask you to convince me otherwise.

          • ThePantser@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            11·
            3 months ago

            Then we can’t win, it feels like people are purposely making it impossible to be respectful to everyone by always having an issue. So I will go with offending the gendered people.