Suspended 'Wheel of Fortune' Announcer Jim Thornton was Caught in Pedophile Chat Room for 57 Minutes while on Flight

https://www.tmz.com/2026/09/03/jim-thornton-chatroom-messages-that-led-to-airport-detainment/

Thornton was on an American Airlines flight back in May from Charlotte to L.A. ... when a passenger eyed his laptop and saw him in a disturbing chatroom. The passenger tells TMZ, she saw images and texts that made it appear it was a chatroom for pedophiles.

One of the messages she saw said, "Couple of cute boys and a hot little girl." Another read, "All-you-can-eat Boyfett." referring to a restaurant where they could find underage kids.

And there's another message references "CP," which the passenger believed stood for child porn.

As a result, the passenger notified a flight attendant and shared these photos with the crew. We're told the captain then notified authorities, and law enforcement met the plane when it landed at LAX.

We're told authorities questioned Thornton and he was then free to leave.

51 points · 8 comments · view on lemmy.world

8 Comments

cardboardboxfort@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2d

I'd like to solve the puzzle... "HES A PEDO"

TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social · 8 pts · 2d

What in the fuck is wrong with people. That's beyond disgusting

onionsinmypores@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 1d (2 replies)

So uh what happened at the questioning of the authorities?

velma@sh.itjust.works · 9 pts · 1d (1 reply)

Jim’s lawyer said their client was never arrested or charged with a crime. His lawyer claimed law enforcement spoke to Jim once he landed and determined no crime had occurred. “In short, my client did nothing wrong,” she said.

They did nothing because pedophiles don't get punished in this country.

I'm just glad that Wheel of Fortune decided to suspend him from his position there.

onionsinmypores@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 1d

Sad. But yeah.

blkvvvs@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 2d (2 replies)

What is it with people doing stuff on the airplanes? If it's not Christians trying to proselytize, it's gross CP stuff.

velma@sh.itjust.works · 12 pts · 2d (1 reply)

Sometimes it's both at the same time!

So weird, right? I barely want to watch a rated R movie while on a flight.

vrek@programming.dev · 6 pts · 2d

Years ago I was on a flight and decided to play doki doki literature club on my laptop(single player, no network required, hadn't played it yet, seemed pretty innocent). I got to that scene and immediately alt-f4. I waited till hotel room to go any further cause I didnt want to disturb the people around me.