Sony Reportedly Fires Jim Thornton

Sony Pictures Television terminated Jim Thornton’s employment as Wheel of Fortune announcer, effective immediately, after a company investigation into an incident on an American Airlines flight in May. A passenger on the Charlotte-to-Los Angeles flight reported seeing Thornton’s laptop display a chatroom or forum associated with pedophiles and notified airline staff, after which police questioned him at the gate. Thornton had been suspended earlier in the week while Sony reviewed the allegation. His attorney, Allison Hart, said he was trying to reach a suicide-prevention chatroom and was misdirected to a similar URL.