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Wheel of Fortune star Jim Thornton has broken his silence on "pedophile" claims as new photos appear to show him in a chatroom for nearly an hour.
The game show announcer was met by police and questioned after getting off an American Airlines flight following concerns raised by a fellow passenger.
The 61-year-old was ultimately allowed to leave and has not been arrested or charged with a crime in connection with the May 14 incident.
Now, new photos published by TMZ appear to show Thornton looking at a chatroom on his laptop during the flight, with timestamps suggesting the page was open for almost an hour.
Thornton, who is seen wearing a Wheel of Fortune jacket in the images, has since been suspended from the hit game show as Sony investigates the allegations.
A close-up of his laptop screen reportedly shows disturbing messages, including: "A nice hangout for kids. Saw a couple of cute boys and a hot little girl."
Another reads: "All-you-can-eat Boyffet."
The passenger who alerted a flight attendant reportedly claimed she had seen images and messages that led her to believe Thornton was allegedly accessing a chatroom for pedophiles.
The crew notified law enforcement, who met Thornton when the plane arrived at Los Angeles International Airport.
American Airlines confirmed that officers responded to concerns raised aboard Flight 1276 on May 14.
"On May 14, American Airlines Flight 1276 was met by law enforcement upon arrival at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) following concerns reported by a customer onboard," the airline told People.
The airline did not identify Thornton or disclose further details about what allegedly happened.
Thornton has denied any wrongdoing through his attorney, Allison Hart, who claimed he accidentally accessed the site while trying to find a chatroom offering support to people experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Hart said Thornton had been seeking such resources after losing a close family member to suicide two years ago.
"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," Hart claimed, per Page Six.
She alleged Thornton did not initially know that "lifeline.chat" claims to offer mental health support to people with pedophilic thoughts.
"When my client understood what the website was about, he left the page and has not visited since," Hart claimed.
She added: "The website lifeline.chat itself is not unlawful, there is no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content, and my client has never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography, whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time."
Hart also stressed that Thornton "did not engage in any illegal conduct, was not arrested, and has not been charged with any crime."
According to the attorney, his interaction with the police lasted only minutes.
"When questioned about the complaint made by a fellow passenger on the flight, law enforcement spoke to him for five minutes or less, immediately determined that no wrongdoing had occurred and told my client he was free to go," she told TMZ.
Hart further said: "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."
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The controversy has already led to Thornton's removal from his longtime role while Sony investigates.
"We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton. He has been suspended from 'Wheel of Fortune,' and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation," a Sony spokesperson said.
Thornton will reportedly be edited out of the upcoming 44th season as producers work to replace him.
He officially became the show’s announcer in 2011, following the death of longtime announcer Charlie O’Donnell in 2010, and had previously served as a guest announcer during Season 28.
