Jim Thornton, the longtime announcer for the popular game show Wheel Of Fortune, has been suspended from his job for the time being — and its all because some very unsettling details are coming to light this week.
So, this all started on Thursday, when TMZ published photos that supposedly showed the 61-year-old game show announced browsing a website on his laptop while on a flight to Los Angeles back in May.
According to the outlet, the images were apparently provided by a passenger on the American Airlines flight who alerted the airline with an official complaint. Per the complaint, Thornton was allegedly growing on a chat forum of some kind that was apparently exchanging references of sexual content — including a mention of minors — and an apparent link to an Instagram post about a London man who’d been arrested for viewing indecent images of kids on his phone while on public transportation.
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But now, according to a brand-new report from USA Today, there’s more. That outlet reported on Friday that two days before the photos were published by TMZ this week, Thornton’s attorney actually sent a letter to the news outlet denouncing its report on the voice actor’s suspension from the game show, and claiming that Thornton committed no crime or did anything wrong.
Per USA Today, the lawyer’s letter stated, in part:
“My client did not engage in any illegal conduct, was not arrested, and has not been charged with any crime. 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.”
Now, USA Today was able to independently confirm that there was a complaint made on an American Airlines flight into LAX back in May. And the airline itself later noted as much, saying to the outlet:
“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.”
But supposedly, Thornton went onto the wrong website — and that is allegedly where this all came about.
Per the announcer’s attorney, Thornton became active in advocacy around suicide prevention after losing a close family member to suicide two years ago. In turn, while searching for suicide prevention information, Thornton was supposedly “misdirected to a forum with a similar URL” to various suicide prevention crisis websites by “an acquaintance in the suicide prevention space,” according to the lawyer’s letter.
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Thornton supposedly didn’t realize or know that the website he visited “claims to offer mental health support to individuals with pedophilic thoughts,” the lawyer wrote.
The lawyer then continued:
“When my client understood what the website was about, he left the page and has not visited since. [The website 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.”
And the lawyer’s letter thusly concluded:
“In short, my client did nothing wrong.”
Now, in the meantime, an internal investigation is going on at Sony and Thornton has been suspended. While Sony did not share any more details about the investigation or what might come of Thornton’s position as the show’s announcer, they did say this when asked by the news outlet:
“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.”
FYI, Wheel Of Fortune is currently airing reruns. Its season 44 premiere is set to kick off on Monday, September 14.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence and would like to learn more about resources, consider checking out https://www.rainn.org/resources.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org.
[Image via WSAZ News Channel 3/YouTube]