Longtime Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton has been fired from the hit game show, according to Sony Pictures Television.
“Following a thorough investigation, Jim Thornton’s employment with Wheel of Fortune has been terminated, effective immediately,” a company spokesperson said in a statement shared with Global News.
Thornton was suspended from Wheel of Fortune last week after Sony Pictures Television said the studio would be recasting while it conducted a thorough investigation into allegations against game show announcer.
“We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,” Sony Pictures TV said in a statement to Variety at the time. “He has been suspended from Wheel of Fortune and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”
Thornton’s firing comes after TMZ published a report over an alleged incident that took place on a commercial flight on American Airlines in May. The outlet posted photos of what allegedly appeared to be Thornton with his laptop open on a “disturbing chat room.”
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Another passenger allegedly complained about Thornton to a flight attendant.
In a statement to Global News, American Airlines did not mention Thornton by name but did confirm there was an incident on a flight in May.
“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,” the statement said.
Thornton’s lawyer told TMZ that the former Wheel of Fortune announcer “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,” his lawyer added.
After the outlet posted the alleged photos in a separate report, Thornton’s lawyer said the former Wheel of Fortune announcer 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 has been the voice of Wheel of Fortune since 2010, following the death of original announcer Charlie O’Donnell.
He started as a guest announcer and officially joined the show as the main announcer for the 29th season in 2011, according to IMDb.
Thornton has also been the announcer for Celebrity Wheel of Fortune since 2021.
For everyone commenting that he’s innocent, go watch penguinz0 video on YouTube about this. You can see every individual line of text he sent. Admitting to having pedophilic thoughts at a family dinner, admitting to having a photo gallery of minors, and admitting to be a “CL” which is an acronym for “child lover”. If you see this evidence and still support him, then you are just as disgusting and are a pedophilia condoner.
Maybe actually say what the allegations were, quit trying to undermine what he did. There is no excuse for pedophilia
He’s been accused of being on a pedophilic website while on the airplane. Not something any company wants to be associated with.
Pat Solo
“Hopefully, if he is as innocent as he says, Thornton sues the vowels out of the show”. Lol. Good one.
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Hopefully, if he is as innocent as he says, Thornton sues the vowels out of the show.
Some idiot just couldn’t help themselves and ruined someone else’s life. Hopefully karma finds that person. And Sony was dumb for firing someone when you ONLY GET ONE SIDE OF THE STORY!
I’ll miss him! I loved his pleasant voice and smile. I hope he comes back! Darn it!
Shame on Sony! How disgusting that no good deed goes unpunished and that Mr Jim Thorton would be terminated for trying to help others based on a personal experience. 🤦♀️
Sounds like a Nosy Nelly or a Nosy Nelson was not minding his or her business and decided to gossip about something they knew nothing about. I blame Social Media for all of these Nosy Nelly’s and Nosy Nelson’s for reporting or tattling on people just because they are not included in things like neighbourhood parties or birthday parties. Shame on them. If the man had porn on his laptop for children to hear or worse to see then yeah lock him up but not a suicide prevention website. Yet another celebrity goes down and for what. TMZ you should know better.
This is terrible news? How can we send him money during this tough time for him?
Fired for using a laptop on a plane? What is this world coming to?
Hopefully this innocent man gets justice.
We should start a petition for him to gey his job back. I’ll send him my kids to help. Cheers and thanks for the info.
What they need is a good Leftist woman to host the show. This, no matter how bad anything in her past pops up, it will be ignored.
Mr. Thornton got fired because some snowflake couldn’t mind their own business. I bet, if Mr. Thornton decided to play the discrimination card and claimed to be neurodivergent gender fluid and of native ancestry, Sony would keep him and maybe give him a raise.
Could you be less vague about what happened? People in the comments are siding with Thornton because your refusal to say that he was allegedly using a chat room meant for pedophiles in which he was allegedly a moderator. You link to the TMZ article, but fail to mention its content here.
Cops found no wrongdoing but man was fired anyway? Time to boycott Sony Pictures Television.
So he did nothing wrong and got fired?
This world is dumb and all of you make no sense.