Wheel of Fortune’s Jim Thornton Suspended for Viewing Pedophile Support Chat Room

Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton was suspended after an airline passenger photographed him viewing a pedophile support chat room, Page 6 reports. Thornton was suspended on September 1st, after an incident on an American Airlines flight on May 15th. His attorney claims he clicked on the link accidentally, believing it was for suicide prevention. “My client has become active in suicide-prevention advocacy since losing a close family member to suicide two years ago, and he has spent time visiting chat rooms offering support to individuals suffering from suicidal ideation,” lawyer Allison Hart wrote in a letter. “One of the sites my client has visited is 988lifeline.org, and its chat forum chat.988lifeline.org. … Through an acquaintance in the suicide prevention space, my client was misdirected to a forum with a similar URL, the forum lifeline.chat, which my client understood to be a forum offering suicide prevention support similar to 988lifeline.org and chat.988lifeline.org … When my client understood what the website was about, he left the page and has not visited since.” Thornton’s attorney added that the website did not contain child porn, and that he has never viewed child...