Sony Pictures Television has fired Jim Thornton, the announcer for its game show “Wheel of Fortune,” following an internal investigation into his alleged behavior while on board a commercial flight earlier this year.
The termination follows numerous reports published by Fox-owned TMZ that related to Thornton’s activity on board an American Airlines flight in May, during which he was seen by another passenger communicating in an online chat room used by self-proclaimed pedophiles.
Photos published by TMZ on Thursday revealed Thornton communicating with other members of the chat room, where discussions included comparing children to food at buffet restaurants and inappropriate, self-pleasure activities while on board an aircraft.
The activity was enough for a passenger to complain to a flight attendant about Thornton, who was wearing a jacket with a Wheel of Fortune logo. An airline official requested police contact when the flight landed in Los Angeles, and Thornton was interviewed and released.
Thornton has not been charged with a crime, and he is not accused of any legal wrongdoing.
In a statement released this week, attorney Allison Hart told the New York Post that Thornton frequently volunteers in online chat rooms focused on suicide prevention. An online resource operated by the National Suicide Prevention Hotline, called Lifeline, bears a similar name to the chat room shown in images related to Thornton’s flight.
“Through an acquaintance in the suicide prevention space, my client was misdirected to a forum with a similar URL,” Hart said in a letter cited by the outlet. The Desk is choosing not to publish the URLs of the suicide prevention forum or the pedophile chat room.
Hart said Thornton immediately logged off the website after realizing it was connected to pedophiles, but images published by TMZ showed he was present in the chat room for at least an hour, and some observers who are familiar with the software that powers the forum said Thornton appeared to have privileges beyond that of an ordinary user.
The chat room itself is not illegal, nor were any of the conversations that were photographed, according to one legal expert who spoke with The Desk. Courts have generally erred on the side of free speech when determining whether text-based conversations about illegal activities are protected, even if the behavior itself is not.
None of the images published by TMZ show Thornton admitting to child sex abuse or agreeing to distribute any photographs or videos showing the same, which would cross the criminal threshold, the legal expert said.
Still, private companies have a right to terminate workers for the type of conduct that Thornton engaged in, especially if their behavior results in reputational risk. Contracts between entertainment companies and talent typically have good conduct and behavior clauses that allow them to terminate their working arrangement if those terms are violated. It isn’t known if Thornton’s employment contract had those terms.
Sony Pictures is in the process of replacing Thornton’s voice in post-production episodes of Wheel of Fortune. A successor to his role has not been named. Thornton lives in Northern California with his family, and occasionally voice-tracked certain episodes from home, according to videos posted on YouTube.
Before joining Sony Pictures, Thornton worked for KNX (1070 AM) and KCOP (Channel 13) in Los Angeles.
Wheel of Fortune is produced by Sony Pictures and distributed by CBS Media Ventures.
