Jim Thornton, the longtime announcer for "Wheel of Fortune," has been fired after Sony investigated allegations that he spent nearly an hour on a flight accessing a website associated with child exploitation material — and his explanation for the episode has drawn further scrutiny.

According to The Daily Beast, Sony announced Thornton's dismissal this week, ending his run with the show following its inquiry into the incident. Thornton had already been benched earlier in the week after Sony learned that a fellow passenger on a May American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Los Angeles had photographed him browsing the site. Timestamps reported by TMZ indicated he was on the page for at least 57 minutes, and he was wearing a "Wheel of Fortune" jacket at the time.

In a letter obtained by Page Six, Thornton's attorney offered an unusual defense, claiming Thornton had in fact been trying to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's website in connection with separate volunteer work but was routed to a lookalike URL through an acquaintance. The attorney insisted Thornton exited as soon as he realized what he was viewing: "[He] left the page and has not visited since."

The photographic evidence, however, indicates Thornton remained on the page far longer than a brief, accidental click would suggest. Another passenger alerted the flight crew, and police met Thornton at the gate when the plane landed, questioning him briefly before releasing him without charges — a point his attorney cited as evidence that no wrongdoing occurred. The two outcomes are not necessarily in tension: the absence of criminal charges reflects what police could establish at the gate, while Sony's decision is an employment matter that the company can act on under its own standards of conduct rather than the higher bar required for prosecution.

Sony has not publicly detailed the specific reasoning behind Thornton's suspension, saying only that it was looking into the matter thoroughly while recasting his role. The network is also reportedly undertaking the complex task of editing his voice out of already-taped episodes for the current season — a step that goes beyond a simple suspension, signaling the company does not expect to reinstate him and is willing to absorb the production cost of re-recording or cutting his segments rather than airing them.

Thornton had served as the show's announcer since 2011, taking over following the death of longtime voice Charlie O'Donnell. His dismissal means "Wheel of Fortune" — a fixture of American syndicated television since its 1983 nighttime debut and now distributed by Sony Pictures Television — faces its second announcer transition in less than two decades, with no successor yet named publicly.