“Wheel of Fortune” announcer Jim Thornton was suspended from the show Tuesday after troubling activity in a chat room on a plane, seemingly related to pedophilia, came to light.
Pictures obtained by TMZ Thursday show the announcer on lifeline.chat, a chat room for people with pedophilic thoughts. However, Thornton’s attorney told the outlet that the announcer meant to visit a suicide prevention website named 988lifeline.org.
Thornton’s lawyer Allison Hart said in a statement to TMZ that the announcer had “become active in suicide-prevention advocacy since losing a close family member to suicide two years ago, and he has spent time visiting chat rooms offering support to individuals suffering from suicidal ideation.”
The lawyer clarified that the chat room website lifeline.chat is “not unlawful, there is no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content, and my client never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time.”
The plane incident led to police meeting the announcer at the gate, but he was not arrested or charged with any crime.
Timestamps from the images indicate that the announcer visited the chat room for at least 57 minutes, but Thornton says he left the chat room once he realized what it was.
Messages in the chat room appeared to reference pedophilia, including one that said, “Couple of cute boys and a hot little girl.” Another message referred to the Golden Corral as “an all-you-can-eat Boyfett,” apparently referring to a restaurant where underage children could be found, according to TMZ. Other messages referenced “CP,” which the passenger who submitted the images to TMZ believed stood for child pornography. Another user in the chat even talked about someone getting caught for “looking at CP on his laptop ON THE FLIGHT.”
Other messages referenced masturbation on a “737” plane. “Does it count as the mile high club if its a handjob?” another message read.
The American Airlines passenger reported the activity to a flight attendant on her May 14 flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles, who shared the photos with the crew. The captain then notified authorities, and law enforcement met Thornton at the gate when the plane landed at the gate.
His attorney claimed that officers spoke to Thornton once he landed and determined that no crime had been committed.
“In short, my client did nothing wrong,” she said.
Thornton started on as a guest announcer on “Wheel of Fortune” in 2010 and has worked on full-time since June 2011. He took over for longtime announcer Charlie O’Donnell, who died in November 2010. Thornton also serves as an announcer on “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.”
Sony Pictures TV said Wednesday that they would be recasting his role while they conduct a thorough investigation.
Representatives for Thornton did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
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