A transgender military pilot posted a “proof of life” video Friday to refute rumors spread on social media that she was flying the helicopter that collided with a commercial jet near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night, killing 67 people.
“I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C., and that is false,” Jo Ellis, a Black Hawk pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard, said in the Facebook video. “It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some sort of political agenda. They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this. And I hope that you all know that I am alive and well, and this should be sufficient for you all to end all the rumors.”
Several hours prior to posting the video, Ellis shared a screenshot on her Facebook account of an X post in which someone had shared two images of her and made the false claim that she was the Black Hawk pilot involved in the deadly crash.
Ellis did not immediately return a request for additional comment.
A Virginia National Guard spokesperson confirmed that Ellis, a chief warrant officer 2, is a currently serving soldier and that there were “no Virginia National Guard personnel on board the Black Hawk that collided with the jetliner Wednesday evening.”
At least two news websites, Santa Monica Observer, based in Santa Monica, California, and The Express Tribune, based in Pakistan, reported on the rumors, with the Observer reporting as fact that Ellis was on board the helicopter and questioning whether the crash “was intentional.” As of Friday afternoon, the Observer had updated its article but the Tribune had not.
Grok, an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by social media platform X, amplified the misinformation. X is owned by Elon Musk, who serves as the company’s chairman and chief technology officer.
“A military helicopter crash involving a transgender pilot named Jo Ellis has sparked significant discussion on X, particularly after the incident where the helicopter collided with an American Airlines flight, resulting in 66 fatalities,” Grok’s summary stated if X users searched Ellis’ name, according to screenshots by multiple X users.
As of Friday afternoon, Grok corrected its summary of Ellis. And if a user asks the AI chatbot who the Black Hawk pilots were that were involved in the deadly crash, it now correctly names two of the three involved.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Grok AI’s claims about Ellis.
This week, Ellis wrote an op-ed about her life as a transgender service member and appeared on The Smerconish Podcast, where she said President Donald Trump’s executive order barring trans people from serving and enlisting in the military makes her nervous.
“I don’t really want to have to deal with all of the headlines and everything going on about my service,” she said. “I want to keep my head down, serve, serve honorably and then eventually retire, maybe another 15, 20 years, or however long my my body lets me fly that helicopter.”
She added, “In a time when it’s hard enough to meet recruiting numbers in the military, why would you want to, you know, kick out more soldiers that are willing to sacrifice their life for this country?”
Trans people have increasingly been falsely blamed for tragedies and violence in recent years, particularly after mass shootings. In March 2022, a trans woman living in Georgia said she faced harassment and threats after her photo was shared online alongside false claims that she was the shooter who killed 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. The shooter was killed on the scene by police.
Similar false or unconfirmed claims spread after at least four shootings in the last two years — in Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; Madison, Wisconsin; and Des Moines, Iowa — that the shooters’ were transgender or LGBTQ and that their identities had something to do with the crimes.
These online rumors following violence and tragedies have spiked alongside an increasingly hostile state and federal legislative climate for trans rights. In the last few years, dozens of states have passed laws that restrict transition-related care and school sports participation for trans youth and limit access to restrooms and identity documents for trans people of all ages.
In addition to his executive order barring trans people from the military, Trump has signed executive orders declaring that the United States will only recognize two sexes, male and female, and ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs inside federal agencies. He also signed an order directing agencies to prohibit federal funding for schools promoting “gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology” and another that aims to restrict access to transition-related care for minors nationwide.
At a news conference Thursday, Trump implied that DEI programs could have caused the deadly crash over the Potomac, though the investigation had only just begun.
