Jo Ellis has served in the Virginia National Guard for 15 years and found herself the subject of thousands of false social media posts on Friday morning
A transgender helicopter pilot was forced to respond after she was falsely identified as the captain of the Black Hawk that crashed in Washington, D.C.
Jo Ellis has served in the Virginia National Guard for 15 years and on Friday found herself the subject of thousands of false social media posts claiming that she was the third crew member aboard the helicopter that collided with the passenger jet, carrying 64 people.
She resorted to posting a “proof of life” video on Facebook to stop the baseless rumors.
“Jo Ellis” was trending on X on Friday morning and there were more than 90,000 posts spewing the false claims, The New York Times reports.
One of them which had been reposted many times said that Ellis “has been making radicalized anti-Trump statements on socials.”
President Donald Trump and Republicans blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion programs for the deadly Wednesday night plane crash between the military helicopter and a commercial jet near Ronald Reagan National Airport.
As a result, the false social media posts about Ellis attempted to tie her transgender identity to the crash.
“I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C. and that is false,” Ellis said in a video on her Facebook profile. “It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don’t...
Recent controversies in sports and entertainment have highlighted a troubling trend: Prominent figures are facing accusations of weaponizing the #MeToo movement through false claims. Critics argue...