Suspended “Wheel of Fortune” announcer Jim Thornton has been fired following an in-flight pedophilia chatroom incident.
“Following a thorough investigation, Jim Thornton’s employment with ‘Wheel of Fortune’ has been terminated, effective immediately,” a Sony Pictures Television Studios spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Page Six.
News broke on Sept. 1 that Thornton had been suspended from his longstanding position.
“We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,” a rep for Sony Pictures Television Studios told Page Six at the time.
“He has been suspended from ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”
While Sony did not elaborate on the nature of the allegations, it was later reported that the suspension stemmed from an incident that arose while Thornton was traveling aboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Los Angeles on May 14.
“On May 14, American Airlines Flight 1276 was met by law enforcement upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport following concerns reported by a customer onboard,” a rep for the airline told Page Six at the time.
Later that night, Thornton’s attorney, Allison Hart, said in a statement, that her client “did not engage in any illegal conduct, was not arrested and has not been charged with any crime.”
She explained, “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.”
The following day, TMZ reported that Sony was scrambling to cut Thornton from the forthcoming new season of the beloved game show, set to premiere Sept. 14.
Per the outlet, producers began re-editing those episodes with a new announcer, an effort one source called a “major undertaking.”
On Sept. 3, Hart elaborated on the details of the plane incident, exclusively telling Page Six that her client “has 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.”
According to Hart, Thornton has visited 988lifeline.org and its chat forum, chat.988lifeline.org, in the past, noting that they “offer real-time support for individuals struggling with mental health issues.”
Hart claimed Thornton had been “misdirected to a forum with a similar url, the forum lifeline.chat,” by an “acquaintance in the suicide prevention space.”
Thornton allegedly “understood” that the forum offered suicide prevention support similar to 988lifeline.org and chat.988lifeline.org and “did not know that the website lifeline.chat claims to offer mental health support to individuals with pedophilic thoughts.”
When Thornton realized what the website was about, he allegedly “left the page and has not visited since.”
Hart insisted that the website lifeline.chat itself “is not unlawful, there is no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content,” adding that her client “has never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time.”
Hart made sure to stress that Thornton “was never arrested or charged with a crime,” claiming law enforcement “immediately confirmed that no crime had occurred” and told her client he was “free to go.”
She was adamant that he “did nothing wrong.”
Hours after we obtained her statement, however, TMZ published photos taken by the passenger who was sitting next to Thornton on the flight.
In two of the pics, messages — presumably from Thornton (clad in a “Wheel of Fortune” jacket) — 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” made a comment about how 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 for close to an hour.
The passenger who notified a flight attendant about Thornton told the outlet she allegedly saw images and texts suggesting he was in a chatroom for pedophiles, prompting her to share the photos with the crew.
Law enforcement officers were notified about the incident and met Thornton at the gate upon his arrival. Officers questioned the TV personality, who was then released.
To date, Thornton has not been arrested or charged in connection with the incident.
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