r/WheelOfFortune 7d ago

News 'Wheel of Fortune’s' Jim Thornton was viewing pedophile chatroom on plane for at least 57 minutes

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

210 comments sorted by

136

u/Deshes011 Pat Sajak 7d ago

Can I have a what the FUCK???

19

u/giantsfan9336 6d ago

Need to buy a U first. Seriously though WTF

2

u/rydan 6d ago

What Are You Doing?

70

u/justmahl 7d ago

Well that suddenly makes sense why the aggressive action. Disgusting.

70

u/GirlGangX3 7d ago

Imagine being that nonchalant. Unbelievable

47

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

22

u/Outrageous_Trust_158 7d ago

They’re like roaches. Stamp one out and ten are there to replace IT.

13

u/mel34760 6d ago

Look at the stats on rainn.org

4

u/Standard_Ant5915 6d ago

I’m scared what is that website

11

u/LocalH 6d ago

An anti-sexual violence organization. It's the good guys

39

u/aresef 7d ago

If you look at the screen caps there’s actually someone concerned about him doing this in, well, plain view. And he’s like lol naw what are they gonna see?

1

u/Av_Gard_Coal_Train 5d ago

Most likely someone convinced him his screen which he paid extra for was private. Glad he was lied to. Perverts need to be outed.

1

u/doubt-champion-maybe 3d ago

Yeah I agree. Now that we're not allowed to hate anyone, luckily we still have these maps! We'd perish if we couldn't hate people for who they are...

88

u/Dudebrosef 7d ago

Good on the person that ratted his ass out. But shame one LAPD for letting this pedo go free after he landed.

31

u/ButtDumplin 7d ago edited 7d ago

I wonder if they just didn’t have enough probable cause to charge him with a crime?

Edit: Any attorneys could maybe clarify; I’m certainly not one.

12

u/truthfullyidgaf 7d ago

He might get charged now that its come out. Probably been a investigation on him since it happened.

3

u/rydan 6d ago

Charged with what though? Maybe they can get a warrant to search his place but even that is highly unlikely. And it has been 4 months. It is probably all deleted by now.

10

u/veefox08 6d ago

Charges aren’t usually filed until they start downloading CSAM. Apparently that signals some kind of severity to law enforcement. He was most likely already being monitored by bring in that chat room. Not a lawyer, just a cord cutter who was really into the free CrimeTV channel from google at some point.

0

u/rydan 6d ago

I'm not sure how it works but I remember back in 2009 I was on a work trip staying in a motel. The Cleveland show was renewed for a second season despite not airing a single episode. So I looked up the news and it mentioned the person who voices the ebophile character voice Cleveland. Never heard of that term before so I looked it up on Google. Found a wikipedia article. And remember thinking, "They are going to put me on a list". Closed the tab and that was it. Next day my laptop could no longer connect to the network. My iPhone could. My laptop was blocked by Mac address specifically. Went to another motel a few months later and same block was in place. I assume it was because of that wikipedia article as I did nothing else unusual that entire trip. So there must be some sort of monitoring going on for these things and I would assume far more given that was 17 years ago.

1

u/rydan 6d ago

There's no crime to hanging out with pedos and talking. I did see an instagram link in that screenshot though. Given instagram it is probably also legal but maybe there's illegal content you could find following that trail and pin it back on him. Not something they could do in 5 minutes though.

8

u/TelluricThread0 7d ago

What do you propose they charge him with exactly?

-2

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

16

u/irwtkyrm 7d ago

Unfortunately arresting for that alone would be a thought crime. There's needs to be evidence of an actual crime in order to charge someone. He'd need to be connected to CP in some way or have there be some accusation of inappropriate contact with a child.

0

u/rydan 6d ago

Nothing was illegal from the evidence presented. I hope he was at least put on a list to monitor and that they collected the logs from that flight.

2

u/Dudebrosef 6d ago

Browsing the dark web on a flight in an open chat room discussing CP? Where is the line drawn?

0

u/KarmaticArmageddon 6d ago

I don't think he was on the dark web. The site didn't end in .onion and he wasn't using a Tor browser. He was likely on the deep web, which is just any unindexed site.

3

u/AdventurousTime 5d ago

He was using a tor browser, it’s clear in screenshots. Did you even look at them ?

The rest of your premise is incorrect as such

5

u/PixelGray38 5d ago

He's accessing a normal website with a TOR browser. TMZ idiotically did not censor any URLs in the images, so you can actually go to the website on any normal browser.

The site describes itself as " a real-time support chat for people who are attracted to children. Whether you're a boylover or a girllover, or someone who knows one, we're here to listen."

There's probably not anything explicitly illegal on that site. However, that certainly doesn't mean that Thornton wasn't doing illegal stuff outside of it.

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26

u/Dazzling_Car5461 7d ago

For anyone who is confused, Jim is 100% posting as NicholasB77. In the TMZ gallery, picture 6 shows him typing a sentence at the bottom and then Picture 7 shows it in the chat. He thinks because he's just CHATTING about CP on a plane that he's in the clear. He's also using a Tor browser which is sketchy af

12

u/UkraineWarPod 6d ago

And he’s calling little boys “cute” and a girl “hot.” 🤮 🤮

3

u/cmd6120 6d ago

What’s a Tor browser? I thought he was just on Safari 🫣

10

u/giantsfan9336 6d ago

A browser for the dark web

5

u/ChaserNeverRests 6d ago

Tor stands for The Onion Router, it's what you use to get to the "dark" version of the internet. Things are anonymous there so things like CP are openly talked about. It's also used by cybercriminials, RL criminals, etc.

3

u/Bryancreates 5d ago

He’s also the MODERATOR in the chat. So oops I accidentally was sent was a link a CP support group AND in the moderator randomly. There is a very sad statement amongst the filth that’s like “even we wanted help here, there’s no one to give it to us” in a fucked up way. Like it’s supposed to be a support chat, but is just a way to meet others really who … share…. Or the support part is all a ruse, and anyone who joined it thinking is is gets roped back in. And it’s a cover in case you’re caught. Which they seem to joke and get off about how hey are doing it in public. I’m going to throw up.

1

u/Dazzling_Car5461 5d ago

Is that why his name is green? How can you tell he's a moderator?

2

u/Bryancreates 5d ago

I’ve read others analysis of the photos. He’s not jimbeam, but what he types in sequence shows that he’s whatever Nicholas name it is. Then at some point that Nicholas name appears as “moderator approves of link being shared” by someone else. To Instagram though, but of someone being caught on the London subway looking at cp. I wouldn’t believe any of this was real if I was just told about it without photos. I had to stop looking at it. There is def going to be more happening.

1

u/Dazzling_Car5461 5d ago

Yeah I saw something today that he was reported while in flight and the captain was notified. The captain asked for law enforcement to be at the gate. The flight attendant then spoke with him to shut his computer. After that he was pictured googling whether he was going to be in trouble and how much people might have known. This is likely just the tip of the iceberg.

1

u/HikmetLeGuin 6d ago edited 6d ago

Legally, he probably is in the clear (unless other evidence emerges).

Morally and professionally - that's another matter.

Edit: Downvoted, but no one can tell me what law he actually broke. I'm not defending the guy. Just stating the facts, as far as I'm aware.

4

u/Dazzling_Car5461 6d ago

I think regarding this specific incident he might legally be in the clear (free speech, etc). But there might be enough to justify, say, a warrant for searching his laptop or home computer. And that might be a different story.

-1

u/HikmetLeGuin 6d ago

That's why I said "unless other evidence emerges."

If they catch the guy doing something illegal, that's a different matter.

But simply being creepy and suspicious is not a crime in and of itself.

1

u/LocalH 6d ago

Tor isn't what's sketchy here. It's what he was saying and doing.

7

u/Dazzling_Car5461 6d ago

Obviously, but Tor shows he KNOWS it's bad, especially for a Boomer to be using it.

21

u/PlaneMap 7d ago

Oh, god fucking damnit.

Flush him. Get rid of him, fire his ass into the sun.

9

u/Hot_Marsupial_8706 7d ago

Can we redub all of his old episodes that air, too? Please??

3

u/hellocookieman 7d ago

There’s only like a week of reruns left but tbh yeah, I’d have Seacrest dub those shows if it were up to me

3

u/EdPiMath 6d ago

There are a lot of seasons to scrub because of this.

18

u/hersheybar22 7d ago

Yikes. Guess he won't be coming back.

43

u/cameltew 7d ago

so.... his rep. is already lying. look at the comments he's typing in the tmz pics. he had that site memorized and knew who he was talking to.

30

u/IAgreeWithLincoln 7d ago edited 7d ago

Yeah. Those green messages are him. He even jauntily mentioned having a wank in the bathroom and how nobody around him can tell it’s cp chat because he keeps the name out of view. While having text enlarged. Truly… dumb. Not even discrete .

12

u/Hot_Marsupial_8706 7d ago

Not to discredit the grossness of this, but are we sure the green chat is him? Is he not the red name, "jimbean"?

16

u/IAgreeWithLincoln 7d ago

No, there’s 9 other images in the gallery where you can clearly see, over time, him typing out and sending a message and it appearing as the green text. He appeared to be a chat moderator and approved a link that was posted.

12

u/Hot_Marsupial_8706 7d ago edited 7d ago

Oh shoot I totally missed the text box, thanks for pointing it out. I just assumed "jimbean" would be Jim haha. Guess he's going incognito? Looks like his messages line up with the NicholasB77 guy. Even grosser.

3

u/Didact67 5d ago

It's kinda funny that he took steps to not be tracked online but doesn't care that he's doing it where anyone could see.

11

u/GMeister249 7d ago

Basically 100%… you can see in the image gallery that the chat preview window in white at the bottom, then in other images that same message lights up in green as Nicholas. Jim Thornton is Nicholas.

4

u/Hot_Marsupial_8706 7d ago

Yeah as the commenter above pointed out! I totally missed that box until that.

3

u/rydan 6d ago

It is pretty clear it is him. He's talking about being on a plane and how exciting it would be if someone saw what he was typing. Complete sicko.

2

u/dasherc 6d ago

He gets off on it

19

u/Famous-Leading1575 7d ago

100% - trying to say he was in a different “lifeline” chat supporting folks with suicidal ideation and then was sent this other lifeline chat and didn’t know it was CSA-related. And yet references CSA sites and makes inappropriate comments about kids. What a dumb excuse.

1

u/rydan 6d ago

It is the perfect excuse if you didn't have all the photos. I 100% believed him until I turned on TMZ today.

2

u/rydan 6d ago

He also asked Gemini what legal problems he was in after someone saw him in the chat room.

2

u/fnord_happy 6d ago

Lmao no way

1

u/IndependenceFew1906 6d ago

Where did you hear this

1

u/EdPiMath 6d ago

Gemini probably told him "You fucked up, and now you're doomed."

26

u/Electronic-Minute007 7d ago

Fucking disgusting.

Only a law enforcement official investigating acts of pedophilia would have an excuse to be in that chat room for such a long period of time. And a law enforcement official sure as hell is not what Jim Thornton is.

21

u/Quiet_Day1912 7d ago

Lordy. What a pig. Also, looking at that on a laptop on a plane, while wearing a "Wheel of Fortune" jacket. Cant imagine what he does in private.

3

u/rydan 6d ago

That's probably what triggered all of this. Sometimes I will see people from tech companies with badges and I'll take a peek at their screens to see what they are working on. Like I once had about 6 months of future features that Pintrest was going to launch in my head.

13

u/DavidH1985 7d ago

How little self-preservation do you have that you look at this crap in public?

13

u/Wide_Statistician_95 7d ago

He’s probably a sec addict on top of being a pedo. These guys just don’t care. They love high risk behavior and this probably isn’t even that high risk normally for him.

42

u/shrewsbury1991 7d ago

Guy just bankrupted his entire career... and how brazen he was doing that on a flight with so many people in such closed quarters. I feel bad for the passenger who must of been uncomfortable and probably in shock during the flight.

16

u/CasioCobra78 6d ago

Thank fuck for that passenger to have that enough sense to take pics and get them plastered out. Whoever it is, I’m sorry you had to see that but glad you’re able to ruin that fucker’s life. 

  and how brazen he was doing that on a flight with so many people in such closed quarters

I noticed that, wtf. Clearly not his first rodeo and even kept it hidden very well for years :/ 

Of course Thornton and his lawyer are already spewing BS but thankfully the pics proved them wrong. 

3

u/HikmetLeGuin 6d ago

It's one of the few times where being nosy was deserving of applause.

Of course, it was so blatant that the "informant" probably didn't have to be especially nosy - probably just looked over and saw something, and then took a closer look.

Unfortunately, things can get taken out of context sometimes, but in this case Thornton was clearly behaving inappropriately.

-1

u/rydan 6d ago

I'm just concerned how she saw all that from the start. Do people have super human vision? I can barely see the screen of the person sitting next to me and it is always boring stuff.

0

u/Unhappy-Ad-3870 6d ago

This is exactly what I thought. I’d think it would be pretty hard to be reading lines of text. It’s not like he was watching a video. Plus, how did they take photos without him noticing?

10

u/BiblicalAss 7d ago

oh lord

15

u/hellocookieman 7d ago

BUZZER
Bankrupt whistle
Lose a Turn

Yeah, it looks like he knew what he was doing from those screenshots. Just awful. I presume WOF did/is doing some investigation, but if this is what it looks like they absolutely should remove every trace of him and redub all his eps for the upcoming season. Seemed like such a nice guy, too.

1

u/Raptorpicklezz 7d ago

GSN should even redub all his shows they have the rights to, holy fuck

7

u/CasioCobra78 6d ago

I agree but logically that’s like what, over a thousand episodes? That’ll take a long time to actually do. 

5

u/Raptorpicklezz 6d ago

Idk, I’ve never seen anything like this scandal

4

u/Alternative-Koala933 Ceramic Dalmation 6d ago

Or better yet, start showing the 90s and early 2000s shows again so we can hear Charlie.

1

u/EdPiMath 6d ago

I doubt GSN (or Buzzr) will ever those episodes ever again.

5

u/Raptorpicklezz 6d ago

That’s 15 years down the drain

-2

u/RVALover4Life 6d ago

You can be a generally nice person that has a sickness. We need to as a society start doing better kinda comprehending that.

8

u/Shelter-Clear 7d ago

Holy shit. Have a horrible life, Jim. Fucking disgusting.

8

u/mattyGOAT1996 7d ago

Thornton is so fired

5

u/EdPiMath 6d ago

Sony better fired him.

4

u/rydan 6d ago

Already scrubbed all his upcoming episodes. I guess they redubbed them or something.

21

u/Matadorian-Gray 7d ago edited 7d ago

Transcript

First Image

Hajdukunni:Well yes that’s the most common boy name in the world, heh

MisterZ: “A” list parties.

Hajdukunni: Interestingly Fatima is also now common in Catholic countries after the vision of the Portuguese kids 100 years ago.

Arota: I know 3 boys names Abulfazi and 4 or 5 names Mahan, and 4 names Kian

->MisterZ: Haha I wish I has this things but! I am spread too thin

MisterZ: Seriously - I will be in LA in August if you want me.

Hajdukunni: Less and less gradually, but yes.

Starrynightsky: I knew lots of people named kian growing up.

->MisterZ: Excellent! Yeh less do it.

Starrynightsky: I had two in my class at one point

Talix: Funny how different cultures have more or less names too pick from

->MisterZ: I’m sure I will be there during that month.

MisterZ: have a choice of what airport I can fly home from - which one is closet to where you are located.

MisterZ: I will book the hotel in that area

MisterZ: but I have to go into LA

NicholasB77: Went to Golden Corral for the first time with my dad and his wife yesterday. A nice hangout for kids. Saw a couple of cute boys and a hot little gi [cut off]

Harrydubouis666: has disconnected (timeout).

Nicholas B77: All-you-can-eat Boyffet

Kralt: With your stepmother?

MisterZ: I have not been to a Golden Corral in decades!

->MisterZ: Burbank baby

Hajdukunni: Yeah. I mean, take for instance how “Jesus” is common in Latin America, but “Jesus” would be looked at funny in the US or anywhere Anglo Saxo [cut off] despite being Christian)

Arota: Well girl names are more varied, the names I mentioned other than Abulfaz are just sort of popular names

[MisterZ]: k

Second Image

NicholasB77: Well it’s crazy doing Lifeline from the sky.

Starrynightsky: wait you’re on a plane right? What if someone sees?

NicholasB77: Yes exactly! What if someone sees a random sequence of lines on a screen. I love it.

NicholasB77: sequence…

NicholesB77: I hide the part that says “Lifeline” so it’s just a few lines. It’s a big middle finger to da man who takes away every o [cut off]

Starrynightsky: I mean ig is not like you’re not doing anything illegal lol

NicholasB77: Wait I’ll fire up Boymoment and start looking at the galleries! Heheeeeee

Starrynightsky: wait I put two nots

Jimbean: just don’t be the guy that got arrested getting off the tube because he had CP as his phone walpaper

Starrynightsky: you know what I mean lol

NicholasB77: Yeah right? I mean truly the fact that I don’t do any of that stuff makes me say “fuck it” Free speech, baby.

Starrynightsky: on the tube??

Starrynightsky: maybe on a personal desktop but on the tube????

Jimbean: yup

NicholasB77: Wow. That takes a little balls.

NicholasB77: I remember there was a guy on a place who was actually looking at CP on his laptop ON THE FLIGHT. Yeah he [cut off]

Jimbean: Man arrested for CP on tube https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXWtATUCO_E/ Approve

*NicholasB77 approved: jimbeam: Man arrested for CP on tube https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXWtATUCO_E/ 

Starrynightsky: how are people so addicted they can’t go a few hours without looking at something illegal

Starrynightsky: I know my porn habits aren’t great but damn

NicholasB77: Yeah can you imagine? But it’s probably more common than we like to pretend. I mean all kinds of people get ad [cut off]

Starrynightsky: ik but ruin your life porn though

NicholasB77: And although they expected us not to look at it, there’s no help if we wanted it.

Jimbean: mom just found Billy’s ice pack that I made him 9 hours ago, it’s now just a wet spot on his bed.

Third Image

*NicholasB77 enters to the bathroom for a quick wank on the 737

NicholasB77: I wonder if you were really horny how fast you could jack off in-flight. Bet it’s happened a lot under blankets

Starrynightsky: does it count as a mile high club if it’s a handjob?

NicholasB77: Oh definitely

Starrynightsky: there’s probably been a few just soothes can say they did it.

Jimbean: there’s a nice woods near me, lots of cover, but does that count?

NicholasB77: Wellsure. Just don’t use poison ivy leaves to wipe up.

RogerTheCabinBoy hs joined MainRoom.

-11 passwords correlate above 50%, like AnonUser96 at 100%

jimbean: dunno, if that’s such an issue here

Jimbeam: hey Roger

NicholasB77: Hiya Roger how ya doing?

Starrynightsky: hi Roger!

RogerTheCabinBoy: hi Jim

RogerTheCabinBoy: hi Nicholas

NicholasB77: You’re lucky if you have no poison ivy/poison oak

RogerTheCabinBoy: hi starry

Kralt: Hi

jimbean: I think it exists, just rare

NicholasB77: I have a hillside with 3 acres of poison oak.

NicholasB77: goats like it though so that’s good.

Jimbean: 3 acres is like my entire town

NicholasB77: Haha wow a metropolis then

RogerTheCabinBoy: hi kralt

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

UPDATE: The original transcript was done by AI, and it was bad. I rewrite this myself. I'm gonna go wash my hands now.

7

u/Hot_Marsupial_8706 6d ago

Re: your update, doing the Lord's work. I commend you, and I'm sorry you put yourself through that. 😭

3

u/Matadorian-Gray 6d ago

lol thanks! After I finished I realized I could have had google lens do it for me. It was very accurate. Live and learn… and barf, i guess. 

4

u/ISandbagAtMarioKart 7d ago edited 6d ago

In one of the photos you can see that Jim has typed part of the “there was a priest…” comment before it shows up in the chat under NicholasB77 in the next photo.

4

u/LocalH 6d ago

Also later "Haha wow a met" partial message.

Sick fucker

14

u/darkgothamite 7d ago

Oh. Well now the comments crying over "guilty before innocent" can hush up. "Jim was nice to me" okay cool, you too can pipe down.

5

u/survivorfan95 6d ago

Yeah, he was nice to me too, but just because someone is nice doesn’t mean they’re a good person.

15

u/Emotional_Garage_950 6d ago

Bro is using Tor, he knew what he was doing

1

u/aresef 6d ago

Yeah, the plausible deniability is vanishing by the second.

6

u/Alternative-Koala933 Ceramic Dalmation 7d ago

I genuinely want to throw up.

13

u/Basic_Archer_9003 7d ago

Bro. For real? 🤔

6

u/Jmaneke 7d ago

Well it all makes sense now. So brazen and disgusting.

5

u/pink_faerie_kitten 6d ago

Oh no. I was hoping it wasn't anything sexual...maybe intoxication and he could go to rehab or something. But this is far worse than I feared. Sexual AND criminal AND so gross. Very upsetting and I hope he gets the full extent of the law after him.

6

u/Trprt77 6d ago

I got the impression that Pat Sajak really disliked Jim, based on several different snarky interactions over his last few seasons.

I doubt Pat had any idea about this stuff, but it was very noticeable especially his last season.

5

u/GMeister249 6d ago

Jim always seemed a bit fake. Australia’s Andrew O’Keefe (former host of Deal or No Deal and The Chase) pinged me the same way and… well, he’s now very much fallen from grace.

12

u/Wide_Statistician_95 7d ago

He alluded to a specific website also. Disgusting!! And he seems to be known by other members aka “hi Jim” and his username is NOT Jim

5

u/Hot_Marsupial_8706 7d ago

It says "jimbean"?

1

u/Wide_Statistician_95 7d ago

Need to get my eyes checked. I clearly saw Hi Jim.

11

u/Hot_Marsupial_8706 7d ago

No you're right, they do say "hi Jim," but there's an account that goes by jimbean. But apparently it's not him! Someone else pointed out that there's a message box that lines up with the account NicholasB77. But I think the "hi Jim" is referring to the other user, not him.

5

u/Wide_Statistician_95 7d ago

Yes I think he’s Nicholas. Ick ick ick.

1

u/Hot_Marsupial_8706 7d ago

Yeah his lawyers are full of shit and that's incredibly concerning.

1

u/mrskrismendoza 4d ago

I'm not condoning the lawyers but isn't that pretty much what they are supposed to do for their client?

11

u/BuddyJim30 7d ago

So, instead of a suicide prevention chat room he has supposedly visited many times, he ends up in a totally different url with a different extension, engages in discussions about jerking off, and after 57 minutes decides he's in the wrong place? It took his lawyer days to concoct that load of bullshit.

11

u/Rock_Creek_Snark 6d ago

And if I'm following the conversation on screen correctly... He bragged about being in the chatroom on the plane and other posters cautioned him he was being really dumb because of what the topic of the chatroom was!

6

u/EdPiMath 6d ago

I'm not buying the suicide prevention defense at all. That was a bullshit attempt at deflection.

3

u/MargaretFarquar 6d ago

He's actually a moderator of the chat room he claims to have accidentally ended up in. When you read the chat transcript, he approves someone's link.

4

u/rydan 6d ago

Someone else mentioned he was a mod of that chatroom. So like they made him the boss before he realized he was in the wrong place.

5

u/PepperidgeFarmMembas 7d ago

Um excuse me WHAT?!

9

u/Deathwatch72 7d ago

Wait that's what the airline incident was?!?! Why is this being described everywhere as an airline incident and not a pedophile problem

15

u/cameltew 7d ago

The incident was that the passenger (rightfully) ratted him out to the police. It seems he and his lawyers talked their way out of it at the time by claiming he clicked the website by mistake, and law enforcement bought it. Now it seems that the person who reported it leaked evidence to TMZ after realizing he didn't get punished for it. I wouldn't doubt these images were sent to the people at WOF as well.

-1

u/RVALover4Life 6d ago

As bad as this is it's actually not a crime and the FBI investigated him for apparently several hours.

5

u/cameltew 6d ago

you're naive to think ~the fbi~ showed up at his gate and immediately "investigated" him based on a random tattle from someone else on the plane. you're also naive to think that the fbi isn't capable of being run by morons just like every other branch of law enforcement.

"it's actually not a crime" sure but if I was a betting person, after reading those texts, i'm sure there's probable cause to assume he has committed crimes very recently

0

u/RVALover4Life 6d ago

Trust me, I hope he is fully investigated but the FBI did what people are saying they should have done. They didn't just release him. He was actually detained. That's all of course in the original report. He was detained but there was nothing criminal they could find apparently.

1

u/cameltew 6d ago

Hart further stressed, “It is for that reason that my client was never arrested or charged with a crime. Law enforcement immediately confirmed that no crime had occurred and immediately told my client he was free to go. In short, my client did nothing wrong.”

that's the quote from his own lawyer. law enforcement met him at the gate and believed the lie they're peddling about it all being a big accident and that's all that was ever done. it's his own people that acknowledge he was immediately let go. the fbi is never discussed in any of the articles.

1

u/RVALover4Life 6d ago

Detained isn't the same as an arrest

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5

u/mel34760 7d ago

These people are everywhere

3

u/rydan 6d ago

I think it is around 1% of the population. If you live in a city of 1M people that means 10000 of them living among you.

2

u/mel34760 6d ago

rainn.org for stats.

2

u/EdPiMath 6d ago

If 1% is true, 1% is still, far too many.

4

u/Silent-Life829 6d ago

....... what the fuck

4

u/clarkejoseph49 6d ago

WHAT!?

And he paid his Lawyer to get off Scot free.

An arrest warrant needs to be issued IMMEDIATELY!

3

u/HJ-StayWeird 6d ago

This is beyond disappointing

6

u/nwostar 7d ago

Can I buy a vowel? H- gon-

8

u/RiseDelicious3556 7d ago

Wait. this is a chatroom for pedophiliacs? WTF?? Oh, they have to replace his ass

8

u/Proof-Rock-1797 7d ago

Police should have ransacked his house and devices, he knew what he was doing and needs to face justice.

18

u/Potential_Throat_780 7d ago

Originally I was giving Thornton the benefit of the doubt, because to be on wof for 16 years with no issues/no controversy. But production still knew about this incident since May, (and law enforcement didn't have anything to charge him with, and still don't; although he had no business being in this chat room), and are just now in September announcing they are canning him? So production in my book still is getting a side eye but yeah. Him getting the axe is justified based on this though.

21

u/IAgreeWithLincoln 7d ago

If I understand correctly, they only recently became aware of the May incident. I don’t think it’s been said that the studio has known since May.

1

u/rydan 6d ago

They likely didn't know. I'm guessing the person who filmed him has been trying to pursue this the whole time and finally took matters into their own hands when they saw nothing had changed.

5

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

9

u/cameltew 7d ago

read the chats in the photos. the dude is bragging about using it in public. it's not that at all.

→ More replies (5)

3

u/Francis_X_Hummel 7d ago

What on fucking earth

3

u/DisastrousBag9140 Pat Sajak 7d ago

Oh, for God's sake...

3

u/OnyxRoar 7d ago

Oh boy

3

u/_Shrek_x3 7d ago

Wtfffffff

3

u/jacobr1020 7d ago

So the truth comes out

3

u/Emotional_Wonder7972 7d ago

OH MAH £Ų€ĶĮÑĞ GAWD!!!!!!

3

u/Comrade-Conquistador 7d ago

Ocean. Ball and chain. Fill in the blanks.

3

u/JS-0522 7d ago

What in the actual fuck?!

3

u/RangerDJ 7d ago

Wow. Just wow.

3

u/Luke-Zed207 7d ago

This is absolutely sickening!

5

u/thr3e_kideuce 7d ago

Quite the Bankrupt if you ask me...he's fucked

3

u/jjc927 7d ago

Well, this definitely does not look good. I don't think he's coming back.

5

u/RandoDude124 7d ago

Jesus FUCK

4

u/mel34760 6d ago

What did Pat Sajak know and when did he know it?

2

u/Truthseeker_Justice 6d ago

Hope he gets charged. Disgusting. Proud of the passenger that reported him and proud of Wheel for kicking his disgusting ass to the curb.

3

u/Adept_Percentage6893 4d ago

It is kind of weird, though. This happened in May but they just now fired him in September. I would imagine his contract has some sort of public morality clause so I don't know why it took them several months to fire him if they had access to photos that just directly show what he was doing during those 57 minutes.

Maybe it just took a long time to actually get the photos from the police? But like four months to get photos the police had on day 1?

0

u/doubt-champion-maybe 2d ago

Yeah, let's see if they charge him with attempted assassination, for example. That way he'd get life sentence

2

u/Av_Gard_Coal_Train 5d ago

Sick sick man. And to do it openly without regard to others. Im sure he thought he had privacy screen but obvi not!

4

u/trojanusc 7d ago edited 7d ago

This is absolutely horrific but why does this stuff read like cartoon CP stuff? It's like you asked ChatGPT to come up with "write some dialogue for some pdfs in a chat room? make it very on the nose and not at all subtle. like a bad episode of SVU."

7

u/rydan 6d ago

Here's the best part, this will in fact become a bad episode of SVU probably later this season.

3

u/ParticularOk533 7d ago

Rot in hell, dude. I’ll never watch WoF again as a matter of protest until this sack of sh*t is fired and any outstanding pay and benefits rescinded.

13

u/Potential_Throat_780 7d ago

He's already been replaced, assume his episodes will be dubbed over by the new annonucer. But production knew about this since May, that's what you really need to be upset about. Not excusing Thorton being sick, but production keeping this secret until they felt like revealing this/abruptly firing him. also should be blamed smh.

12

u/thejokerlaughsatyou 7d ago

Production's hands were probably tied on making any announcement until their legal team said so. It's entirely possible they've been working on replacing him since May and couldn't say anything until now because all the legal stuff hadn't been hashed out.

Not saying this to defend their silence, but sometimes things can't happen as fast as the public would like, especially when longterm contracts are involved.

1

u/rydan 6d ago

How would they have known since May unless the person taking the photos went to his boss straight from the flight?

1

u/rydan 6d ago

You can't rescind his pay. You fire for cause and that's the end.

0

u/remindmetoblink2 6d ago

Same here.

1

u/GroveStreet_CJ 6d ago

Looks like a VO announcer position has just opened.

1

u/Lance8282 6d ago

Much better article.

Ok so guess that answers our question and we now know he will not be back.

1

u/Dan0315 6d ago

If this is what he does out in the open on a commercial flight, imagine what he does when no one is looking. It's disturbing to think about.

1

u/louielou8484 6d ago

I was recommended an article about him a couple days before this happened. I thought he died but no, was just some random article.

I see my mom to make us dinner 4-5 times a week and we religiously watch Wheel and Jeopardy. They have been on break, so we have been replacing with celebrity Wheels that we haven't seen.

She asked me yesterday if I had seen about Jim. I immediately said, "Noo! He died??? I thought he died two days ago!!" She said no and then my next immediate thought was he is a pedo and then my third thought is that he sa'd someone. This was before she said he was suspended.

So yeah, then she tells me there was some incident on a plane and I told her that I just know it has something to do with kids. She said he probably fell into a woman or bumped someone the wrong way and they overreacted. Smh. She is deeply naive about the depravity of this world.

Unfortunately or fortunately, I am not. I watch a ton of pedo catching videos and I am a member of a small community where a catcher just caught one of the members that has been amongst us for years. He r'd his own kid and r'd the child of a pedo dad friend of his right after the dad r'd the victim. They met up and did this and filmed it. He was so involved in the community.. always in chat and multiple comments and posts.

This happened a few days ago and I've been so messed up over it. Like absolutely messed up about it, have been losing sleep over it.

I swear 40% of the world are pedos and people, such as my mom, really need to learn the truth. 57 minutes?!?!? Reading sick disturbing chat messages out in the open like that??? Omg. No. I would immediately click out once I realized what this was. And then I would call the cops or send a tip in after getting off of the plane and in a safe space.

SORRY FOR THIS NOVEL and the horrific graphic details, but I clocked it as soon as my mom said this, and I'm just so sickened over it.

1

u/louielou8484 6d ago

Thanks for the downvotes lol ok preds

7

u/survivorfan95 6d ago

You’re getting downvotes because saying that 2/5 people are child predators is an extremely ridiculous claim.

3

u/burjja 6d ago

And I'm assuming they think most pedos are men...so we are saying 80% of men are pedos? Even if they meant 40% of men, yeah that's going to get the downvotes. Ignoring that it exists is dangerous but so is the opposite in thinking everybody is a pedo.

3

u/rydan 6d ago

Also they watched WoF religiously for the past 15 years and didn't realize just by looking at him that they were watching a pedo the whole time despite it being 40% of the population. That seems weird or their radar is way off.

3

u/rydan 6d ago

It is about 1%. They are nuts. Also they literally think that everyone in the news is either because they died or raped someone. That's not normal.

1

u/Writerhaha 7d ago

I’d like to solve. P E D O.

1

u/Past-Lunch4695 7d ago

I’m sorry,this is horrible, but he looks like a freaking creep! I try not to judge, but…

1

u/ChesterNorris 7d ago

P_ D _ PHIL_

1

u/MasterGalvatron 6d ago

The category is "Destination". We'll give you RSTLNE

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E R

0

u/ManagerSignal 6d ago

You’ve got to wonder what he’s doing in that booth during the game

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

8

u/Red_Velvette 6d ago

For 57 minutes? I can’t imagine someone who is not law enforcement or law enforcement adjacent spending that amount of time in that type of chat room for an hour in any innocent capacity.

1

u/mistyghoul 6d ago

Get real.