Wheel of Fortune Announcer Suspended After Alleged Pedophilia Chatroom Activity on Flight

On May 14, Jim Thornton was aboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles. A fellow passenger reported seeing disturbing messages on his laptop screen that appeared to come from a chatroom for pedophilic thoughts. The passenger alerted a flight attendant, who informed the captain. Law-enforcement officers met Thornton at the gate when the plane landed, questioned him, and released him without arrest or charges. Sony Pictures Television announced that Thornton would be recast while a thorough investigation proceeds.

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Since losing a close family member to suicide two years ago, Thornton has been active in suicide-prevention advocacy, frequently visiting the website 988lifeline.org and its chat forum chat.988lifeline.org. His attorney alleges that an acquaintance misdirected him to a similarly named site, lifeline.chat, which is described as a forum for individuals with pedophilic thoughts.

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• Timestamps captured from the laptop screen show Thornton was in the chatroom for at least 57 minutes.

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• “All-you-can-eat Boyffet,” and references to “CP,” which the reporting passenger interpreted as “child pornography.”

TMZ

• She added that law-enforcement officials confirmed no crime had occurred and that Thornton was free to go.

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• Law-enforcement officers, after questioning Thornton at the gate, determined that no criminal conduct had taken place and released him without filing charges.

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• “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, the forum lifeline.chat, which my client understood to be a forum offering suicide prevention support similar to 988lifeline.org and chat.988lifeline.org,” — Allison Hart, thornton’s lawyer

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The incident has led to Thornton’s suspension from a high-profile television role and the removal of his appearances from the upcoming 44th season of *Wheel of Fortune*. It underscores the challenges of monitoring online activity on commercial flights and raises questions about the responsibilities of public figures when inadvertently accessing controversial online forums.

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Sony Pictures Television plans to recast the announcer role while the investigation continues. Producers are editing Thornton out of the forthcoming season, and the network has not provided a timeline for a final decision on his employment status.

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