Wheel of Fortune Fires Jim Thornton After Airline Chatroom Investigation

Sony Pictures Television has fired Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton. A spokesperson told TMZ the decision followed a thorough investigation and was effective immediately.

The company acted days after a passenger on a May American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles reported seeing disturbing material on Thornton's laptop and alerted the crew. Law enforcement later questioned him. TMZ published additional photos from the cabin. This magazine is not repeating the contents of those messages.

What is on the public record

A passenger said the screen looked like a chatroom involving children. Crew made him close the computer. Thornton was later suspended, then fired. Those are employment and police-contact facts. They are not a criminal conviction. No charging decision is part of the Sony statement TMZ quoted.

Game-show announcers are the voice of a family broadcast. Networks treat that as a brand-risk job. Once the allegation was in print, Sony had to choose between a long review and a clean break. It chose the break.

How we are covering it

We will not reproduce alleged chat text or images. Readers who need the underlying TMZ package can open the source. Our job here is the employment outcome and the fact that the complaint began on a commercial flight.

If prosecutors file charges, that is a separate story with a docket number. Until then, the news is the firing.

Source: TMZ report on Thornton's termination.