Alarming images have emerged, seemingly showing Jim Thornton, the suspended announcer from “Wheel of Fortune,” participating in a suspected child pornography chatroom.
According to a report from TMZ on September 3, a passenger on an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles in May noticed unsettling messages on Thornton’s laptop.
The female passenger claimed the messages included phrases like, “Couple of cute boys and a hot little girl,” and “All-you-can-eat Boyfett,” which allegedly referred to a place where predators could find underage children.
Other messages reportedly indicated the letters “CP” as a reference to child porn.
Thornton’s attorney, Allison Hart, responded to TMZ, stating that the conversation in the chatroom was misconstrued.
She explained that Thornton had become involved in suicide prevention efforts after losing a close family member to suicide two years ago, often visiting chat rooms to support those struggling with suicidal thoughts.
Hart mentioned that Thornton used the suicide prevention site 988lifeline.org and its chat forum, chat.988lifeline.org, and that a friend had sent him a link to a different chatroom called lifeline.chat, which, according to TMZ, is associated with individuals having pedophilic thoughts.
Thornton claimed he exited the chatroom once he realized its focus, but timestamps indicated he was active for nearly an hour, as reported by TMZ.
Hart insisted that lifeline.chat is “not unlawful,” asserting that there was no illegal child pornography or other inappropriate content, and emphasized that her client never viewed, downloaded, or accessed any child pornography, either on that flight in May or at any other time, according to TMZ.
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The concerned passenger communicated her worries to a flight attendant, showing images of Thornton’s laptop to the crew, which led to law enforcement questioning him upon landing. TMZ noted that he was later released without charges.
Hart clarified that Thornton was neither arrested nor accused of any crime.
“In summary, my client did nothing wrong,” she stated to TMZ.
As a result of the incident, Sony has put Thornton on suspension from “Wheel of Fortune” and has removed him from future episodes of the show.
