Virginia Pilot responds after she is false targeted over black hawk accident

On By Littum

Jo Ellis, a helicopter pilot in the Virginia Army National Guard, was mistakenly identified as captain of the crashed Black Hawk helicopter in thousands of social media posts this week. The unclear fake fake was so extreme that Mrs. Ellis, who is transgender, published a “proof of life” video to Facebook that clarified that she is alive and had not flown the crashed chopper.

The falsehood, who tried to bind Mrs. Ellis’s transient identity to the tragedy, spread online shortly after President Trump and his allies tried to tie the crash in Washington, DC, to so-called “dei programs” increase diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. There is no evidence that such programs played some role in the crash.

“I understand that some people have affiliated me in DC, and it’s fake,” Mrs. Ellis said in a video Sent to his Facebook account. “It is insulting for families to try to tie this to a kind of political agenda. They don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve this. “

Mrs. Ellis is a black Hawk Pilot that has served for 15 years in the Virginia Army National Guard, according to a Blog posts She released on Tuesday at Smerconish, an independent news site that detailed her transition while she was in the armed forces. Mrs. Ellis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Posts and reorganizations about Mrs. Ellis rose Friday morning when thousands of accounts on X shared her photos and details online. Stills earned hundreds of thousands of views on the platform, according to a review from the New York Times and data from Tweet bindsA company that collects data on the social network. “Jo Ellis” was the No. 2 most trending topic in the US on X late Friday morning with more than 90,000 positions, according to Trends24, a site that traces a tendency for topics.

In Friday afternoon, many of the posts Ms. Ellis’ video and emphasized that she was not involved in the crash.

Mr. Trump has made attacking diversity programs for an important part of his administration, and signed executive orders seeking to ban them and promised to stop funding for government groups that support such programs.