Jim Thornton, the longtime announcer for Wheel of Fortune, has been fired.
“Following a thorough investigation, Jim Thornton’s employment with Wheel of Fortune has been terminated, effective immediately,” a company spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
He was suspended from the show on Tuesday, with the company sharing at the time that an investigation had been launched. “We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,” the company said in a statement to THR. “He has been suspended from Wheel of Fortune and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”
TMZ reported on Thursday that he was suspended after alleged pedophilia chatroom photos prompted an investigation. The outlet published photos they alleged were screenshots of Thornton’s laptop that were taken by a passenger on an American Airlines flight in May from Charlotte to Los Angeles.
The passenger who took the photos told TMZ she saw images and texts that made it appear to be a chatroom for pedophiles; that same passenger notified a flight attendant about the alleged messages, sharing the photos with them. The captain reportedly notified the authorities, and he was questioned at LAX once the flight landed, but was free to leave, per TMZ.
THR has not vetted TMZ’s photos, and reached out to the Los Angeles Airport Police Department for more details.
Thornton’s lawyer, Allison Hart, told TMZ that he 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.”
She said Thornton was provided with a link to a different chatroom, lifeline.chat, from another member in the suicide prevention group. Lifeline.chat, per its website, “is a real-time support chat for people who are attracted to children.” Hart claimed that once Thornton realized what the chatroom was, he left.
Hart additionally said 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.”
She also noted that he was never arrested or charged with a crime, and law enforcement determined no crime had occurred. “In short, my client did nothing wrong,” she said.
More to come.