Trans Pilot Sues Right-Wing Influencer Who Claimed She Caused Potomac Crash

Jo Ellis, a helicopter pilot in the Virginia Army National Guard, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against right-wing influencer Matt Wallace, saying he “concocted a destructive and irresponsible defamation campaign” when he falsely identified her as the pilot in a deadly crash in January.

The lawsuit from Ellis, who is transgender, seeks monetary damages from Wallace for spreading a lie to his millions of followers that Ellis was flying the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet above the Potomac River in January, killing all 67 people aboard both aircrafts.

“In the wake of this horrible tragedy, [Wallace] decided to exploit this devastation for clicks and money,” the lawsuit said, accusing him of capitalizing on the right-wing outrage fueled by President Donald Trump’s blaming of diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices for the crash.

“[A] transgender Black Hawk pilot seemed like the perfect target,” the lawsuit asserts, saying he went on to make several transphobic attacks on her.

Wallace “used his prominent X platform to monetize a false narrative that [Ellis] was not only one of the Army pilots involved in the mid-air collision, but also that she engaged in ‘another trans terror attack’ and intentionally caused the mid-air collision due to her ’depression’ and ‘Gender Dysphoria,’” the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado, states.

Ellis’ lawsuit was filed on her behalf by the Equality Legal Action Fund, which is made up largely of volunteer lawyers representing LGBTQ+ people in defamation and harassment lawsuits.

By thrusting her into the public sphere, the lawsuit claims, Wallace disrupted Ellis’ privacy and put her life at risk.

“Given her immediate notoriety and the fact that she is a transgender woman, she fears for the immediate safety of herself and her family on account of the hate inspired against her by [Wallace’s] lies,” the complaint says. Ellis “has been harassed, received credible death threats, been forced to hire a personal security detail, and began carrying a firearm for her own personal protection,” it continued.

When Ellis posted a “proof of life” video in response to the false rumors about her, Wallace defended himself by saying he wasn’t the first account to spread the lie, which to him “[s]eemed credible because Jo Ellis wrote an article calling out Trump’s trans military ban only a few days ago” and because “[t]here have been a lot of recent school shootings & attacks carried out by trans individuals,” which is not backed by any evidence.

Wallace has not yet issued a public statement in response to the lawsuit.