Pilot Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Matt Wallace, X Influencer
Jo Ellis, a National Guard pilot, is suing an influencer who falsely identified her as the captain of a helicopter that collided with a passenger plane in January.
Two days after a helicopter collided with a passenger jet in Washington in January, killing 67 people, Jo Ellis woke up to a flurry of text messages.
Ms. Ellis, a 35-year-old helicopter pilot in the Virginia Army National Guard, learned from friends that her name and photos were all over social media. Users were falsely naming her as the pilot who had crashed into a passenger jet on Jan. 29 — a sign, in the eyes of the online mob, that diversity initiatives had played a role in the crash because Ms. Ellis is transgender.
She posted a “proof of life” video on Facebook — emphasizing that she was very much alive and well in an attempt to slow the spread, but claims seemed to multiply.
“My life was turned upside-down at that point,” Ms. Ellis said in an interview, adding that her employer sent armed bodyguards to protect her family and that she started carrying a loaded weapon as a precaution. “Forever on, I’m known as ‘that trans terrorist.’”
Ms. Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit on Wednesday against Matt Wallace, an influencer on X with more than two million followers. Mr. Wallace was one of the more prominent people to spread the falsehood in a series of posts that included photos of Ms. Ellis and details about her life.
Mr. Wallace deleted his posts about Ms. Ellis after her Facebook video started spreading online. He posted an “important update” on the afternoon of Jan. 31, writing that Ms. Ellis “was not piloting the helicopter that crashed in to the plane and is still alive.”
