Trans Pilot Sues Influencer: I 'Believe in Consequences'

A transgender pilot falsely reported to have been flying the military helicopter that collided in January with a commercial airplane, killing 67, is now suing a right-wing influencer for spreading that rumor—the insinuation being that she was hired only due to DEI initiatives. "I want to hold this person accountable for what they did to me," the National Guard's Jo Ellis, 35, says in a statement to NBC News regarding her defamation suit against Matt Wallace, filed on her behalf by the Equality Legal Action Fund. "It's become too common that people can say horrible things about someone, profit at their expense, and get away with it."

• Wallace's tweets: Wallace, who has more than 2.3 million followers on X, tweeted from a secondary account not even 24 hours after the tragedy, including a photo of Ellis and commenting without proof that one of the pilots of the Black Hawk chopper was transgender—which soon went viral, per Ellis' complaint.

• A pile-on: Wallace didn't stop there. Although he removed the original post, he soon circulated two others tying Ellis to the crash, including one that said she may have been involved in "another trans terror attack," according to her suit.
• Who was actually flying the helicopter: There were three individuals killed on the chopper: pilot Andrew Eaves, Staff Sgt. Ryan O'Hara, and Capt. Rebecca M. Lobach, who was co-piloting the helicopter under Eaves' direction.
• Ellis' initial response: The 15-year-plus member of the Virginia National Guard said she was forced to issue a "proof of life" video on Facebook. "It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda," she says in the clip. "They don't deserve that. I don't deserve this."
• Wallace's response: He reposted Ellis' video and conceded hadn't been piloting the chopper. He also said the rumor "seemed credible."
• Aftermath: Ellis—who says she'll donate any damages she recoups from Wallace to families of the crash victims—tells NBC her life was "turned upside down." She adds to the New York Times that she started carrying a loaded weapon and that her employer deployed armed bodyguards to protect her. "I believe in free speech, but I also believe in consequences to free speech," Ellis tells the paper, reiterating that on Facebook.
• A 'clear growing trend': That's how one University of Utah law professor describes the increasing use of defamation suits to combat misinformation, noting: "People victimized by viral conspiracy theories are increasingly attempting to use defamation law not just to remedy their own reputations but to correct the wider societal lie."

(More transgender stories.)