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A female passenger glanced at his laptop and saw images and texts that originated from an alleged pedophile chatroom.
Published Sep 04, 2026 • Last updated 5 minutes ago • 2 minute read
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Longtime Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton has some explaining to do.
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Thornton was suspended earlier this week when the show’s producers investigated allegations made against him during an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, N.C., to Los Angeles, Calif.
“We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,” Sony Pictures Television said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter and other media outlets. “He has been suspended from Wheel of Fortune and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”
A female passenger told TMZ that she glanced at his laptop and saw images and texts that originated from an alleged pedophile chatroom.
One of the messages she saw said, “Couple of cute boys and a hot little girl.” Another read, “All-you-can-eat Boyfett,” referring to a restaurant where they could find underage kids.
What was said
In another chatroom sequence with a user named Starrynightsky, Thornton allegedly typed “Wait’ll I fire up Boymoment and start looking at the galleries. Heheee.”
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The passenger then notified a flight attendant. TMZ says the captain notified the authorities of the allegations. Law enforcement greeted Thornton when he arrived in Los Angeles.
After he answered questions from the cops, he was free to leave.
“Thornton had 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,” Thornton’s lawyer Allison Hart told TMZ.
Hart says Thornton often visited an American-based suicide prevention website titled 988lifeline.org, and its chat forum chat.988lifeline.org.
Apparently, Thornton was then sent a link to an alternate chatroom, lifeline.chat, from an acquaintance at the suicide prevention group. Lifeline.chat is for people with pedophilic thoughts.
His lawyer added that the website is “not unlawful, there is no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content, and my client never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time.”
Hart says law enforcement spoke to Thornton and determined no crime had occurred.
“In short, my client did nothing wrong,” she said.
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