The reason for Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton’s suspension has emerged.
Thornton, 61, was involved in a troubling incident on a flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles in May, according to a TMZ article published on Thursday, September 3.
A passenger saw and snapped photos of Thornton engaging in what appeared to be a chat room for pedophiles while using a laptop on the airplane.
Images obtained by the outlet show messages that read, “Couple of cute boys and a hot little girl” and “All-you-can-eat Boyfett.”
The passenger alerted a flight attendant and provided the photos to the crew. According to the report, the captain then contacted authorities, who met the plane after it landed at LAX.
Authorities reportedly questioned Thornton before allowing him to leave. Thornton has not been arrested or charged in connection with the incident.
In a statement to Page Six on Thursday, Thornton’s attorney, Allison Hart, claimed he had clicked on the website by mistake.
“My 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,” the statement read. “One of the sites my client has visited is 988lifeline.org, and its chat forum chat.988lifeline.org. … Through an acquaintance in the suicide prevention space, my client was misdirected to a forum with a similar URL … which my client understood to be a forum offering suicide prevention support similar to 988lifeline.org and chat.988lifeline.org.”
Hart claimed Thornton was initially unaware that the site he was accessing provided mental health support to individuals with pedophilic thoughts and left the page after realizing its content. (TMZ noted, however, that the timestamps in the photos indicate Thornton had been in the chat room for at least 57 minutes.)
“When my client understood what the website was about, he left the page and has not visited since,” Hart claimed in her statement. “The website … itself is not unlawful, there is no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content, and my client has never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography, whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time.”
Us has reached out to LAXPD and Thornton’s attorney for comment.
Earlier this week, news broke that Thornton had been suspended from the popular game show for an unspecified reason.
“We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton. He has been suspended from Wheel of Fortune, and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation,” Sony Pictures Television said in a statement to multiple media outlets on Tuesday, September 1.
TMZ reported at the time that Thornton had been involved in an incident on a commercial flight in May, in which a passenger complained to a flight attendant about him.
Thornton’s attorney later told the outlet that he “did not engage in any illegal conduct, was not arrested and has not been charged with any crime,” adding, “When questioned about the complaint made by a fellow passenger on the flight, law enforcement spoke to him for five minutes or less, immediately determined that no wrongdoing had occurred and told my client he was free to go.”
Thornton has been Wheel of Fortune’s resident announcer since 2011 after he took over following the death of longtime announcer Charlie O’Donnell in 2010. He also serves as announcer on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, which premiered in 2021 and airs in primetime on ABC.
If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
