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Jim Thornton had been the familiar voice of Wheel of Fortune since 2011, having taken over the position following the death of Charlie O'Donnell. His duties eventually expanded to include the celebrity spinoff version of the show before his contract was ended by Sony.

Ryan Seacrest and Vanna White continue to front the program. While a temporary stand-in was used to re-record Thornton's segments, an unnamed source confirmed that a full-time permanent replacement for Thornton has not yet been hired.

The incident occurred during a flight in May when a fellow passenger photographed Thornton's laptop screen and alerted a flight attendant. Following the flight, law enforcement questioned Thornton at Los Angeles International Airport. While he was not arrested or charged, the photos and subsequent Sony investigation led to his immediate termination from the franchise.

Thornton's attorney has rejected the most severe interpretations of the incident, claiming that Thornton intended to visit a suicide-prevention forum but was directed to the wrong website by mistake. The counsel maintains that Thornton did not engage in illegal conduct, left the site once he realized its nature, and argued that the TMZ report was defamatory.

Producers decided to scrub Thornton's voice from all already-taped material for the premiere and all subsequent episodes. They went back into the finished segments he had already cut and re-recorded his work using a temporary stand-in announcer to ensure his voice did not air on ABC.

Sony Pictures Television terminated Thornton's employment effective immediately following a thorough internal investigation into allegations regarding his online activity. These allegations stemmed from photos taken by a passenger on a May flight, which were later published by TMZ. The images allegedly showed Thornton's laptop screen displaying a website described as a support chat for people with pedophilic thoughts, with conversations visible on the screen for approximately 57 minutes.