Latest news with #TheSmerconishPodcast
NBC News
09-04-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Trans pilot falsely blamed in D.C. plane crash sues conservative influencer
A transgender military pilot filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against a conservative influencer who falsely claimed on social media that she was flying the helicopter that collided with a commercial jet near Reagan National Airport in January, killing 67 people. 'I want to hold this person accountable for what they did to me,' Jo Ellis, a pilot who has served more than 15 years in the Virginia Army National Guard, said in a statement to NBC News. 'It's become too common that people can say horrible things about someone, profit at their expense, and get away with it.' On Jan. 30, less than 24 hours after the crash, conservative influencer Matt Wallace, who has 2.2 million followers on the social media platform X, shared a post from another account he operates stating that the helicopter pilot was transgender, according to the lawsuit. Wallace included a photo of Ellis, and the post went viral, the lawsuit states. Wallace deleted that original post, according to the lawsuit, and then shared two others linking Ellis to the crash. One referred to an interview that Ellis did with The Smerconish Podcast, in which she said President Donald Trump's executive order barring trans people from serving and enlisting in the military made her nervous. The second post included photos of Ellis and said she might have participated in 'another trans terror attack,' according to the lawsuit. That post received 4.8 million views on X, the suit states. Wallace did not immediately return a request for comment regarding the allegations in the lawsuit. On Jan. 31, after Ellis learned about the rumors, she shared a 'proof of life' video on Facebook. 'I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C., and that is false,' Ellis 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.' Soon after Ellis' statement on Facebook, Wallace shared another X user's post with Ellis' video, writing that it was an 'Important Update!' and adding that Ellis was not piloting the helicopter and is still alive. Wallace also wrote in another X post that the original rumor that Ellis had been flying the helicopter involved in the crash came from another account with the handle @FakeGayPolitics, which is no longer active. Wallace said the rumor 'seemed credible' because Ellis, whom Wallace misgendered in his posts, 'wrote an article calling out Trump's trans military ban only a few days ago.' Ellis was not involved in the midair collision, the lawsuit states, did not write an article 'calling out' Trump's trans military ban and did not engage in 'another trans terror attack.' Equality Legal Action Fund, an LGBTQ legal organization representing Ellis, argues in the complaint that Wallace 'concocted a destructive and irresponsible defamation campaign' against Ellis. 'The damage caused to Plaintiff by Defendant was instantaneous and immense,' the lawsuit continues. 'Prior to Defendant's campaign, Plaintiff was a private citizen who led a private life away from social media and the limelight. When Plaintiff awoke on January 31, 2025, she discovered she was the second most-trending topic in the United States on X with more than 90,000 posts mentioning her name or her likeness. Plaintiff was forced into the public sphere and can no longer remain a private citizen due to Defendant's lies.' Ellis said her life was 'turned upside down' by Wallace's posts. 'I feared for the safety of my family and myself and had to arrange private armed security,' she said in her statement to NBC News. 'I'm now recognized in public and forever associated with that terrible tragedy over the Potomac. When I go out in public I have to look over my shoulder now.' Ellis' suit seeks damages for the injury to her reputation, though Ellis said she plans to donate any money that she wins from the suit to the families of the people who died in the crash. Trans people have increasingly been falsely blamed for tragedies and violence in recent years, particularly after mass shootings. Since 2022, false or unconfirmed claims have linked trans people to mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; Madison, Wisconsin; and Des Moines, Iowa. In addition, since January, the Trump administration has enacted several policies targeting trans people, including the trans military ban, which states that being openly trans 'is not consistent with the humility and selflessness required of a service member.' Two judges have temporarily blocked that policy from taking effect.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trans pilot shares 'proof of life' video amid false claims she flew helicopter in D.C. crash
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. This article was originally published on
CNN
31-01-2025
- Politics
- CNN
A trans National Guard pilot was falsely accused of flying the helicopter in the fatal plane collision
A trans member of the National Guard is speaking out after a wave of claims on social media falsely pointed to her as the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet in Washington, Wednesday, killing 67 people. Jo Ellis, a UH60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the Virginia Army National Guard, posted on Facebook Friday to dispel the rumors that had echoed President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated blaming of diversity initiatives for the fatal accident. 'Some craziness has happened on the internet and I'm being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash,' Ellis wrote. 'It's insulting to the victims and families of those lost and they deserve better than this BS from the bots and trolls of the internet.' In her Facebook post, Ellis shared a screenshot of two X posts that linked her being trans to the catastrophic crash, with one user saying they 'wouldn't be surprised' if 'the pilot was trans' in response to another post that claimed Ellis 'has been making radicalized anti-Trump statements on socials. The latter account has since deleted the post and published an apology. A separate account, which has a blue checkmark and 13,600 followers, shared a now-deleted post directly attacking Ellis and spreading the bogus conspiracy theory. While the account has likewise issued a correction, the post still raked in at least 195,000 views and was reshared almost 1,000 times before being deleted. At the time of both corrections, 'Jo Ellis' was the No. 3 trending topic on X, with 19,400 posts. And, despite Ellis' correction — which she further addressed in a follow-up Facebook video, captioned 'proof of life' — far-right accounts on X have continued to spread misinformation and hate speech. Ellis' erroneous scapegoating in far-right circles follows the guardswoman's publicized sit-down with CNN's Michael Smerconish, slated to appear in Saturday's episode of 'The Smerconish Podcast' during which she discussed her service and experiences with gender dysphoria. In an essay for Smerconish's newsletter, Ellis also discussed her story, writing about transitioning while serving in the military. Hate speech following the crash echoed recent attacks from Trump on DEI initiatives and executive actions targeting transgender Americans. Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has repeatedly taken aim at transgender people, saying in his inauguration speech 'that there are only two genders: male and female.' Amid his flurry of executive orders, Trump has also re-banned transgender Americans from serving in the military, reviving his 2017 order that was repealed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. And, in his first White House briefing room address, Trump directly linked the crash to DEI while also blaming initiatives from Democrats. 'We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system,' Trump said. 'I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary, you remember that.' 'Only the highest aptitude, they have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people, were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers,' he said. In a Thursday White House memo, Trump blamed the Obama administration's implementation of 'a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude,' further linking the crash to DEI initiatives. 'The Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous 'diversity equity and inclusion' tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities in the FAA,' Trump wrote in the memo. Neither the memo nor Trump's press conference provided any evidence to support his brazen claims. When one reporter pressed the president for an explanation of his diversity claims during the press conference, Trump again failed to provide evidence, responding simply: 'Because common sense and unfortunately a lot of people don't.' Baseless DEI attacks have become one of the key pillars of the president's MAGA platform, and Trump is far from alone in linking disasters to diversity initiatives. When disastrous wildfires erupted in California, Elon Musk used his X pulpit to claim 'DEI means people DIE,' while others took aim at Karen Bass, the first woman and second black person to serve as Los Angeles mayor. Conservatives likewise blamed Kristin Crowley, the city's first woman and openly gay fire chief, for the wildfires that killed 28 people. Other incidents have also been linked to DEI initiatives. Rep. Dan Meuser told Fox News that the New Orleans' New Years Day tragedy was because 'the priority of the last four years has been DEI, not IEDs.' And Phil Lyman, the one-time Maryland gubernatorial hopeful, blamed the Baltimore Key Brdieg disaster on 'governors who prioritize diversity.'
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A trans National Guard pilot was falsely accused of flying the helicopter in the fatal plane collision
A trans member of the National Guard is speaking out after a wave of claims on social media falsely pointed to her as the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet in Washington, Wednesday, killing 67 people. Jo Ellis, a UH60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the Virginia Army National Guard, posted on Facebook Friday to dispel the rumors that had echoed President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated blaming of diversity initiatives for the fatal accident. 'Some craziness has happened on the internet and I'm being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash,' Ellis wrote. 'It's insulting to the victims and families of those lost and they deserve better than this BS from the bots and trolls of the internet.' In her Facebook post, Ellis shared a screenshot of two X posts that linked her being trans to the catastrophic crash, with one user saying they 'wouldn't be surprised' if 'the pilot was trans' in response to another post that claimed Ellis 'has been making radicalized anti-Trump statements on socials. The latter account has since deleted the post and published an apology. A separate account, which has a blue checkmark and 13,600 followers, shared a now-deleted post directly attacking Ellis and spreading the bogus conspiracy theory. While the account has likewise issued a correction, the post still raked in at least 195,000 views and was reshared almost 1,000 times before being deleted. At the time of both corrections, 'Jo Ellis' was the No. 3 trending topic on X, with 19,400 posts. And, despite Ellis' correction — which she further addressed in a follow-up Facebook video, captioned 'proof of life' — far-right accounts on X have continued to spread misinformation and hate speech. Ellis' erroneous scapegoating in far-right circles follows the guardswoman's publicized sit-down with CNN's Michael Smerconish, slated to appear in Saturday's episode of 'The Smerconish Podcast' during which she discussed her service and experiences with gender dysphoria. In an essay for Smerconish's newsletter, Ellis also discussed her story, writing about transitioning while serving in the military. Hate speech following the crash echoed recent attacks from Trump on DEI initiatives and executive actions targeting transgender Americans. Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has repeatedly taken aim at transgender people, saying in his inauguration speech 'that there are only two genders: male and female.' Amid his flurry of executive orders, Trump has also re-banned transgender Americans from serving in the military, reviving his 2017 order that was repealed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. And, in his first White House briefing room address, Trump directly linked the crash to DEI while also blaming initiatives from Democrats. 'We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system,' Trump said. 'I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary, you remember that.' 'Only the highest aptitude, they have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people, were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers,' he said. In a Thursday White House memo, Trump blamed the Obama administration's implementation of 'a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude,' further linking the crash to DEI initiatives. 'The Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous 'diversity equity and inclusion' tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities in the FAA,' Trump wrote in the memo. Neither the memo nor Trump's press conference provided any evidence to support his brazen claims. When one reporter pressed the president for an explanation of his diversity claims during the press conference, Trump again failed to provide evidence, responding simply: 'Because common sense and unfortunately a lot of people don't.' Baseless DEI attacks have become one of the key pillars of the president's MAGA platform, and Trump is far from alone in linking disasters to diversity initiatives. When disastrous wildfires erupted in California, Elon Musk used his X pulpit to claim 'DEI means people DIE,' while others took aim at Karen Bass, the first woman and second black person to serve as Los Angeles mayor. Conservatives likewise blamed Kristin Crowley, the city's first woman and openly gay fire chief, for the wildfires that killed 28 people. Other incidents have also been linked to DEI initiatives. Rep. Dan Meuser told Fox News that the New Orleans' New Years Day tragedy was because 'the priority of the last four years has been DEI, not IEDs.' And Phil Lyman, the one-time Maryland gubernatorial hopeful, blamed the Baltimore Key Brdieg disaster on 'governors who prioritize diversity.'
CNN
31-01-2025
- Politics
- CNN
A trans National Guard pilot was falsely accused of flying the helicopter in the fatal plane collision
A trans member of the National Guard is speaking out after a wave of claims on social media falsely pointed to her as the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet in Washington, Wednesday, killing 67 people. Jo Ellis, a UH60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the Virginia Army National Guard, posted on Facebook Friday to dispel the rumors that had echoed President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated blaming of diversity initiatives for the fatal accident. 'Some craziness has happened on the internet and I'm being named as one of the pilots of the DC crash,' Ellis wrote. 'It's insulting to the victims and families of those lost and they deserve better than this BS from the bots and trolls of the internet.' In her Facebook post, Ellis shared a screenshot of two X posts that linked her being trans to the catastrophic crash, with one user saying they 'wouldn't be surprised' if 'the pilot was trans' in response to another post that claimed Ellis 'has been making radicalized anti-Trump statements on socials. The latter account has since deleted the post and published an apology. A separate account, which has a blue checkmark and 13,600 followers, shared a now-deleted post directly attacking Ellis and spreading the bogus conspiracy theory. While the account has likewise issued a correction, the post still raked in at least 195,000 views and was reshared almost 1,000 times before being deleted. At the time of both corrections, 'Jo Ellis' was the No. 3 trending topic on X, with 19,400 posts. And, despite Ellis' correction — which she further addressed in a follow-up Facebook video, captioned 'proof of life' — far-right accounts on X have continued to spread misinformation and hate speech. Ellis' erroneous scapegoating in far-right circles follows the guardswoman's publicized sit-down with CNN's Michael Smerconish, slated to appear in Saturday's episode of 'The Smerconish Podcast' during which she discussed her service and experiences with gender dysphoria. In an essay for Smerconish's newsletter, Ellis also discussed her story, writing about transitioning while serving in the military. Hate speech following the crash echoed recent attacks from Trump on DEI initiatives and executive actions targeting transgender Americans. Since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has repeatedly taken aim at transgender people, saying in his inauguration speech 'that there are only two genders: male and female.' Amid his flurry of executive orders, Trump has also re-banned transgender Americans from serving in the military, reviving his 2017 order that was repealed by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. And, in his first White House briefing room address, Trump directly linked the crash to DEI while also blaming initiatives from Democrats. 'We must have only the highest standards for those who work in our aviation system,' Trump said. 'I changed the Obama standards from very mediocre at best to extraordinary, you remember that.' 'Only the highest aptitude, they have to be the highest intellect and psychologically superior people, were allowed to qualify for air traffic controllers,' he said. In a Thursday White House memo, Trump blamed the Obama administration's implementation of 'a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude,' further linking the crash to DEI initiatives. 'The Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous 'diversity equity and inclusion' tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities in the FAA,' Trump wrote in the memo. Neither the memo nor Trump's press conference provided any evidence to support his brazen claims. When one reporter pressed the president for an explanation of his diversity claims during the press conference, Trump again failed to provide evidence, responding simply: 'Because common sense and unfortunately a lot of people don't.' Baseless DEI attacks have become one of the key pillars of the president's MAGA platform, and Trump is far from alone in linking disasters to diversity initiatives. When disastrous wildfires erupted in California, Elon Musk used his X pulpit to claim 'DEI means people DIE,' while others took aim at Karen Bass, the first woman and second black person to serve as Los Angeles mayor. Conservatives likewise blamed Kristin Crowley, the city's first woman and openly gay fire chief, for the wildfires that killed 28 people. Other incidents have also been linked to DEI initiatives. Rep. Dan Meuser told Fox News that the New Orleans' New Years Day tragedy was because 'the priority of the last four years has been DEI, not IEDs.' And Phil Lyman, the one-time Maryland gubernatorial hopeful, blamed the Baltimore Key Brdieg disaster on 'governors who prioritize diversity.'
