Jo Ellis, a transgender Black Hawk pilot, was forced to share a “proof of life” video on Friday in response to rumors that she was helming the military helicopter involved in a mid-air collision with an American Airlines jet, which left no survivors.
In total, 67 people were killed in the crash Wednesday night, including more than a dozen figure skaters, who were among 60 passengers and four crewmembers aboard American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kan. to Reagan National Airport, officials said.
The Bombardier CRJ700 airplane was gearing up to land when a Black Hawk helicopter flew directly into its path of travel around 9 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
In wake of the crash, Ellis was wrongfully identified by social media users as one of the three soldiers aboard the ill-fated military aircraft. Those rumors have continued to gain traction in the days since, prompting Ellis to prove she is still alive.
“Interesting morning,” Ellis says in the video, going on to introduce herself as a Black Hawk pilot with the Virginia Army National Guard.
“I understand some people have associated me with the crash in D.C. and that is false,” she continues. “It is insulting to the families to try to tie this to some kind of political agenda. They don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve this. And I hope you all know that I am alive and well and this should be sufficient for you all to end all the rumors.”
Ellis wrapped her video by providing a statement from the Department of Defense, responsible for handling casualty notifications, confirming that no members of the Virginia Army personnel were involved in the collision earlier this week.
Though it’s unclear where exactly the rumors began, a post on X from FakeGayPolitics appeared to be one of the first to mention Ellis by name.
“The pilot of the Black Hawk has been identified as Chief Warrant Officer 2 (CW2) Jo Ellis, a transgender woman,” the post reads. “Jo Ellis served in the Virginia National Guard for 15 years and transitioned while serving as a pilot. Jo has been making radicalized anti-Trump statements on socials.”
Many of the responses referenced a personal essay Ellis wrote about her experience as a servicemember in the day before the crash.
“The transgender Black Hawk helicopter pilot for the military wrote a long letter about ‘Gender Dysphoria’ and depression 1 day before the fatal crash this may have been another trans terror attack,” one X user wrote, speculating the incident was a “suicide mission.”
Another wrote: “So it turns out the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter that crashed into the American Airlines flight killing everybody onboard was a transgender pilot, Josiah Ellis, or Jo Ellis was the pilot of the Black Hawk. He tried to take out 3 other passenger planes before the crash.”
The speculation comes after President Trump blamed the crash on DEI practices aimed at helping and projecting marginalized groups, including the LGBTQ+ community, in the workplace. He also took aim at policies from previous administrations, though the cause of the collision has not been confirmed.
So far, two of the three soldiers aboard the ill-fated Black Hawk have been identified as Staff Sgt. Ryan O’Hara, 28, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Andrew Eaves, 39, from the 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, Va.
