New information has surfaced following the suspension of Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton from the iconic game show, after allegations emerged that he was seen accessing a chat room described as being linked to pedophiles.
According to TMZ, the incident allegedly took place in May while Thornton was traveling back to Los Angeles on an American Airlines flight, when a fellow passenger reportedly noticed the chat room open on his laptop.
The passenger, whose name has not been released, told the outlet she saw a string of troubling messages on the screen and believed Thornton was participating in a chat room intended for pedophiles. She also reportedly shared images of the laptop screen and alerted a flight attendant during the flight.
The images allegedly showed one message mentioning a family-friendly restaurant where there were “a couple of cute boys and a hot little girl,” followed by the phrase “All-you-can-eat Boyfett.” Another message referred to “CP,” which the passenger told TMZ she believed could have been shorthand for child pornography.
“wait you’re on a plane right?” one of the messages said. “what if someone sees?”
Another user then replied, “Yes exactly! What if someone sees a random seqence (sic) of lines on a screen. I love it,” before adding that it was a “big middle finger to da man.”
The same user also wrote, “saunters to the bathroom for a quick w—k on the 737.”
Its unclear whether Thornton—whose attorney has denied any criminal activity—sent any of the messages. Oxygen has not independently verified the images.
In a statement to Oxygen, the airline confirmed, “On May 14, American Airlines Flight 1276 was met by law enforcement upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) following concerns reported by a customer onboard.”
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Thornton was never charged with any crime.
His lawyer Allison Hart told TMZ that the lifeline.chat was “not unlawful” and that there was “no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content” in the chatroom.
She added, “My client never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time.”
Hart went on explain that Thornton was active in the suicide prevention website 988lifeline.org and its associated chatroom chat.988lifeline.org after losing a close relative several years earlier. While in that chat, Hart said Thornton received a link to the Lifeline.chat and clicked on it. She said he left the chatroom after realizing what it was, although TMZ reported that the images suggested he’d spent at least 57 minutes in the chat room.
According to Hart, Thornton was briefly detained after the flight, but released after law enforcement authorities concluded that no crime occurred.
“In short,” she said, “my client did nothing wrong.”
In response to the allegations, Sony Pictures Television has suspended Thornton, who has served as the announcer since 2011.
“We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,” a spokesperson said in a statement to Oxygen. “He has been suspended from Wheel of Fortune and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”