Former “Wheel of Fortune” announcer Jim Thornton seemingly referenced “panic” after a fellow plane passenger took photos of him appearing to engage in an alleged online pedophilia chatroom and alerted a flight attendant in May.
According to photos published Friday by TMZ, shortly after Thornton was ordered by a flight attendant to close his laptop, he seemingly typed an unknown question into Google’s search engine on his phone, with the often-illegible A.I. response reading, “No link to your room: Unless you explicitly told someone ‘I am hosting this specific chatroom on for right now,’ nobody … at your internet … and link your … identity to … room.”
A line largely obscured by Thornton’s hand read, “Why You … to Panic.”
According to the outlet, the passenger who snapped the photos said Thornton seemed “nervous” after the flight attendant asked him to close his laptop.
An attorney for Thornton did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment Friday evening.
News broke on Sept. 4 that Thornton had been fired from his longtime “Wheel of Fortune” position “following a thorough investigation” into the alleged incident.
“Jim Thornton’s employment with ‘Wheel of Fortune’ has been terminated, effective immediately,” a Sony Pictures Television Studios spokesperson told Page Six.
On Sept. 1, news emerged that Thornton had been suspended from his job on the game show.
“We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,” a Sony Pictures Television Studios representative previously told Page Six of the incident, which took place on May 14 on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Los Angeles.
“He has been suspended from ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”
A representative for American Airlines told Page Six that on that date, “American Airlines Flight 1276 was met by law enforcement upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport following concerns reported by a customer onboard.”
Allison Hart, an attorney for Thornton, insisted in a statement that Thornton “did not engage in any illegal conduct, was not arrested and has not been charged with any crime.”
Hart added, “When questioned about the complaint made by a fellow passenger on the flight, law enforcement spoke to [Thornton] for five minutes or less, immediately determined that no wrongdoing had occurred and told my client he was free to go.”
TMZ reported on Sept. 2 that the game show was scrambling to edit Thornton from the upcoming season set to debut Sept. 14, which a source described to the outlet as a “major undertaking.”
On Sept. 3, Hart elaborated further on the details of the plane incident, exclusively telling Page Six that Thornton had been “misdirected” to lifeline.chat when he meant to visit 988lifeline.org and its chat forum, chat.988lifeline.org. The latter websites offer suicide prevention support.
Hart claimed that Thornton “did not know that the website lifeline.chat claims to offer mental health support to individuals with pedophilic thoughts,” and he allegedly “left the page and has not visited since” upon realizing the website’s nature.
However, Hart insisted that the website lifeline.chat itself “is not unlawful” and contains “no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content,” adding that Thornton “has never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time.”
Hart stressed that Thornton “was never arrested or charged with a crime,” claiming law enforcement “immediately confirmed that no crime had occurred” and told him he was “free to go.”
Thornton’s lawyer was adamant that he “did nothing wrong.”
Hours after Page Six reported Hart’s statement, TMZ published photos taken by a passenger seated next to Thornton on the American Airlines flight showing the TV personality in the chatroom while wearing a “Wheel of Fortune” jacket.
In two of the images, messages presumably posted by Thornton were written in the chat bar. These messages were later sent to the chatroom by username “NicholasB77,” per additional pictures.
During the dialogue, user “NicholasB77” commented that the restaurant Golden Corral is a “nice hangout for kids” and that they saw “a couple of cute boys and a hot little girl” while dining there the day before.
The user added in their next message, “All-you-can-eat Boyffet.”
According to displayed timestamps, the chatroom conversation spanned nearly an hour.
To date, Thornton — who shares one son with his wife of 35 years, Sue Thornton — has not been arrested or charged in connection with the incident.
He has also not yet addressed his termination.
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