Former ‘Wheel of Fortune’ announcer Jim Thornton’s drastic social media move after being fired revealed

Audrey Rock Sat, September 5, 2026 at 11:44 PM UTC

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Former “Wheel of Fortune” announcer Jim Thornton seemingly shut down his Facebook account after he was fired by the show Friday.

The game show personality’s social media account went “dark” just “hours” after news broke that he’d been officially axed, according to TMZ.

The outlet also reported Friday that Thornton had been “scrubbed” from the iconic program’s social media channels, with his name and image disappearing.

Per TMZ, the page — which previously contained “behind-the-scenes photos and videos of Jim on the popular game show set” — had been active earlier Friday.

Reps for Thornton and “Wheel of Fortune” did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment Saturday.

Thornton was first suspended, then fired from the beloved daily game show after a fellow airplane passenger took photos of him appearing to engage in an alleged online pedophilia chatroom and alerted a flight attendant in May.

TMZ reported on Friday that Jim Thornton, seen above in January, has deleted his Facebook account. Getty Images

The outlet also reported that the ex-“Wheel of Fortune” announcer, seen here in a promotional video, had been “scrubbed” from the game show’s social media pages. YouTube/Wheel of Fortune

“Jim Thornton’s employment with ‘Wheel of Fortune’ has been terminated, effective immediately,” a Sony Pictures Television Studios spokesperson told Page Six Friday.

Prior to that, on Sept. 1, the company said in a statement to us that they’d “been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,” referencing the May 14 incident aboard an American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Los Angeles.

“He has been suspended from ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”

An American Airlines representative said that the flight “was met by law enforcement upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport following concerns reported by a customer onboard.”

Thornton’s lawyer, Allison Hart, stressed that the ex-announcer “did not engage in any illegal conduct, was not arrested and has not been charged with any crime” — and that he was released after being questioned.

“When 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,” Hart added.

Thornton, pictured above in 2013, was fired from “Wheel of Fortune” Friday in connection with an incident on an American Airlines flight in May. WireImage

TMZ published photos of the incident, in which Thornton was photographed engaging in an alleged pedophilia chatroom, as seen above. TMZ

On Sept. 2, TMZ reported that “Wheel of Fortune” staff were rushing to edit Thornton out of the upcoming season in a “major undertaking” prior to the season’s Sept. 14 debut.

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Hart then exclusively told Page Six on Sept. 3 that Thornton had been “misdirected” to lifeline.chat when he meant to visit 988lifeline.org and its chat forum, chat.988lifeline.org — the latter websites which provide support for individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts.

While stressing that Thornton “did nothing wrong,” the attorney claimed he “did not know that the website lifeline.chat claims to offer mental health support to individuals with pedophilic thoughts,” and claimed he allegedly “left the page and has not visited since” when he realized the site’s nature.

Hart also claimed lifeline.chat itself “is not unlawful” and contains “no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content.”

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

Thornton’s employment was subsequently “terminated, effective immediately,” a spokesperson for the company confirmed to Page Six. YouTube/Keeping the Magic Alive

Hart added that her famous client “has never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time,” noting that the former announcer “was never arrested or charged with a crime” and stressing that cops “immediately confirmed that no crime had occurred” before releasing him.

However, TMZ published photos taken by a passenger seated next to Thornton on the American Airlines flight just hours after Page Six shared Hart’s statement on Sept. 3.

The images showed Thornton — clad in a “Wheel of Fortune” jacket — in the chatroom during the flight, with timestamps seemingly indicating the chat went on for nearly a full hour.

In a pair of the images, messages allegedly posted by Thornton under the username “NicholasB77″ were seen in the chat bar.

User “NicholasB77” seemingly commented that the Golden Corral restaurant is a “nice hangout for kids” and that they saw “a couple of cute boys and a hot little girl” while dining there the day before.

They added in the next message, “All-you-can-eat Boyffet.”

An attorney for Thornton, seen here in 2013, denied wrongdoing and said that he’d mistakenly clicked on a link. Getty Images

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

Thornton — who has been married for 35 years to Sue Thornton, with whom he shares a son — 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.)

On Friday, TMZ published additional images shared by the concerned airplane passenger seemingly indicating Thornton was experiencing “panic” after a flight attendant told him to shut down his laptop. The person told the outlet he appeared “nervous.”

In the photos, Thornton apparently typed an unknown question into Google’s search engine on his phone, with A.I. response returning an answer that appeared illegible in several spots.

“No link to your room: Unless you explicitly told someone ‘I am hosting this specific chatroom on for right now,’ nobody … at your internet … and link your … identity to … room,” the images read.

An additional line — heavily obscured by Thornton’s hand — read, “Why You … to Panic.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”