{"id":1045884,"date":"2026-09-06T00:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T00:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1045884\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T00:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T00:08:17","slug":"former-wheel-of-fortune-announcer-jim-thornton-shut-down-social-media-after-firing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1045884\/","title":{"rendered":"Former ‘Wheel of Fortune’ announcer Jim Thornton shut down social media after firing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d announcer Jim Thornton seemingly shut down his Facebook account after he was fired by the show<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n

The game show personality\u2019s social media account went \u201cdark\u201d just \u201chours\u201d after news broke that he\u2019d been officially axed, according to TMZ<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The outlet also reported Friday that Thornton had been \u201cscrubbed\u201d from the iconic program\u2019s social media channels, with his name and image disappearing.<\/p>\n

Per TMZ, the page \u2014 which previously contained \u201cbehind-the-scenes photos and videos of Jim on the popular game show set\u201d \u2014 had been active earlier Friday.<\/p>\n

Reps for Thornton and \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d did not immediately respond to Page Six\u2019s requests for comment Saturday.<\/p>\n

Thornton was first suspended<\/a>, then fired from the beloved daily game show after a fellow airplane passenger\u00a0took photos of him appearing to engage in an alleged online pedophilia chatroom<\/a>\u00a0and alerted a flight attendant in May.<\/p>\n

TMZ reported on Friday that Jim Thornton, seen above in January, has deleted his Facebook account. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The outlet also reported that the ex-\u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d announcer, seen here in a promotional video, had been \u201cscrubbed\u201d from the game show\u2019s social media pages. YouTube\/Wheel of Fortune<\/p>\n

\u201cJim Thornton\u2019s employment with \u2018Wheel of Fortune\u2019 has been terminated, effective immediately,\u201d a Sony Pictures Television Studios spokesperson told Page Six Friday.<\/p>\n

Prior to that, on Sept. 1, the company said in a statement to us that they\u2019d\u00a0\u201cbeen made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,\u201d referencing the May 14 incident aboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been suspended from \u2018Wheel of Fortune,\u2019 and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

An American Airlines representative said that the flight \u201cwas met by law enforcement upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport following concerns reported by a customer onboard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thornton\u2019s lawyer, Allison Hart, stressed that the ex-announcer<\/a> \u201cdid not engage in any illegal conduct, was not arrested and has not been charged with any crime\u201d \u2014 and that he was released after being questioned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen questioned about the complaint made by a fellow passenger on the flight, law enforcement spoke to [Thornton] for five minutes or less, immediately determined that no wrongdoing had occurred and told my client he was free to go,\u201d Hart added.<\/p>\n

Thornton, pictured above in 2013, was fired from \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d Friday in connection with an incident on an American Airlines flight in May. WireImage<\/p>\n

TMZ published photos of the incident, in which Thornton was photographed engaging in an alleged pedophilia chatroom, as seen above. TMZ<\/p>\n

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On Sept. 2, TMZ reported that \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d staff were\u00a0rushing to edit Thornton out of the upcoming season<\/a>\u00a0in a \u201cmajor undertaking\u201d prior to the season\u2019s Sept. 14 debut. <\/p>\n

Hart then exclusively told Page Six<\/a>\u00a0on Sept. 3 that Thornton had been \u201cmisdirected\u201d to\u00a0lifeline.chat\u00a0when he meant to visit 988lifeline.org and its chat forum, chat.988lifeline.org \u2014 the latter websites which provide support for individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

While stressing that Thornton \u201cdid nothing wrong,\u201d the attorney claimed he \u201cdid not know that the website\u00a0lifeline.chat\u00a0claims to offer mental health support to individuals with pedophilic thoughts,\u201d and claimed he allegedly \u201cleft the page and has not visited since\u201d when he realized the site\u2019s nature. <\/p>\n

Hart also claimed lifeline.chat\u00a0itself \u201cis not unlawful\u201d and contains \u201cno unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sony Pictures Television Studios announced earlier this week that an investigation had been launched and Thornton, seen above on the show, had been suspended. YouTube\/Wheel of Fortune<\/p>\n

Thornton\u2019s employment was subsequently \u201cterminated, effective immediately,\u201d a spokesperson for the company confirmed to Page Six. YouTube\/Keeping the Magic Alive<\/p>\n

Hart added that her famous client \u201chas never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time,\u201d noting that the former announcer \u201cwas never arrested or charged with a crime\u201d and stressing that cops \u201cimmediately confirmed that no crime had occurred\u201d before releasing him.<\/p>\n

However, TMZ published photos taken by a passenger seated next to Thornton on the American Airlines flight just hours after Page Six shared Hart\u2019s statement on Sept. 3.<\/p>\n

The images showed Thornton \u2014 clad in a \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d jacket \u2014 in the chatroom during the flight, with timestamps seemingly indicating the chat went on for nearly a full hour.<\/p>\n

In a pair of the images, messages allegedly posted by Thornton under the username \u201cNicholasB77\u2033 were seen in the chat bar.<\/p>\n

User \u201cNicholasB77\u201d seemingly commented that the Golden Corral restaurant is a \u201cnice hangout for kids\u201d and that they saw \u201ca couple of cute boys and a hot little girl\u201d while dining there the day before.<\/p>\n

They added in the next message, \u201cAll-you-can-eat Boyffet.\u201d<\/p>\n

An attorney for Thornton, seen here in 2013, denied wrongdoing and said that he\u2019d mistakenly clicked on a link. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Thornton, pictured above in a previous video, has not been arrested or charged in connection with the incident. He has not personally addressed his firing. Disney via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Thornton \u2014 who has been married for 35 years to Sue Thornton, with whom he shares a son \u2014 has not been arrested or charged in connection with the incident, and has yet to address his firing from the show after nearly 15 years. (He joined in 2011.)<\/p>\n

On Friday, TMZ published additional images shared by the concerned airplane passenger seemingly indicating Thornton was experiencing \u201cpanic\u201d <\/a>after a flight attendant told him to shut down his laptop. The person told the outlet he appeared \u201cnervous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the photos, Thornton apparently typed an unknown question into Google\u2019s search engine on his phone, with A.I. response returning an answer that appeared illegible in several spots. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo link to your room: Unless you explicitly told someone \u2018I am hosting this specific chatroom on for right now,\u2019 nobody \u2026 at your internet \u2026 and link your \u2026 identity to \u2026 room,\u201d the images read. <\/p>\n

An additional line \u2014 heavily obscured by Thornton\u2019s hand \u2014 read, \u201cWhy You \u2026 to Panic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d announcer Jim Thornton seemingly shut down his Facebook account after he was fired by…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1045885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[185,172,8723,171,126950,10637,173,67,132,68,79367],"class_list":["post-1045884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-news","tag-celebrity-social-media","tag-entertainment","tag-game-shows","tag-scandals","tag-tv","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wheel-of-fortune"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117221189718986265","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1045884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1045885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1045884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1045884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1045884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}