Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton has reportedly been suspended from the show after being photographed allegedly looking at a paedophile support group chat room.
Thornton, 61, whose lawyer denies any wrongdoing, was travelling on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Los Angeles in May when another passenger noticed what appeared to be disturbing messages on his laptop.
The American announcer, who is known for his voiceover work in video games, movies and TV shows, has worked on Wheel of Fortune since 2011, following the death of longtime announcer Charlie O’Donnell.
However, according Page Six and TMZ, a passenger is said to have alerted cabin crew and showed them photographs she had taken of the laptop.
The images reportedly showed conversations referring to children, including one message which read: ‘Couple of cute boys and a hot little girl.’
Another message allegedly referred to an ‘All-you-can-eat Boyfett’, which the passenger believed was a reference to a restaurant where children could be found.
A further message reportedly mentioned ‘CP’, which the passenger believed referred to child pornography.
After the pilot was alerted, the authorities were contacted and law enforcement officials questioned Thornton when the plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport.
However, despite being questioned, he was not arrested or charged with a crime and was let go.
In a letter obtained by Page Six, Thornton’s lawyer, Allison Hart, stated that Thornton had accidentally been directed to the website while carrying out suicide-prevention advocacy.
‘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,’ she wrote.
‘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.’
Hart continued by saying that when my client understood what the website was about ‘he left the page and has not visited since’.
‘The website lifeline.chat 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,’ she added.
‘Law enforcement immediately confirmed that no crime had occurred and immediately told my client he was free to go. In short, my client did nothing wrong.’
Sony Pictures Television, which produces Wheel of Fortune, confirmed that Thornton had been suspended while the allegations are investigated.
‘We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,’ a spokesperson said.
‘He has been suspended from Wheel of Fortune and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.’
Thornton joined Wheel of Fortune in 2011 and has remained with the programme through its transition from longtime host Pat Sajak to Ryan Seacrest.
He currently appears alongside Seacrest and Vanna White.
Metro has contacted Hartman’s reps for comment.
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