{"id":335463,"date":"2026-09-02T01:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T01:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335463\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T01:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T01:18:15","slug":"wheel-of-fortune-announcer-jim-thornton-suspended-from-show-nbc-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/335463\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Wheel of Fortune\u2019 announcer Jim Thornton suspended from show \u2013 NBC New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d longtime announcer Jim Thornton has been suspended from the show and his role will be recast,\u00a0TODAY.com<\/a>\u00a0has learned.<\/p>\n

Sony Pictures Television Studios confirmed in a statement sent to\u00a0TODAY.com<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday, Sept. 1, that Thornton will not be involved with the show as the studio looks into allegations against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton. He has been suspended from \u2018Wheel of Fortune\u2019 and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation,\u201d the studio said.<\/p>\n

The studio did not share more details about the allegations or investigation.<\/p>\n

TODAY.com<\/a>\u00a0has reached out to Thornton for a comment.<\/p>\n

TMZ was first to report the news of Thornton\u2019s suspension. The outlet also reported that the allegations involve an incident between Thornton and an American Airlines passenger on a flight in May.<\/p>\n

In a statement to\u00a0TODAY.com<\/a>, American Airlines did not mention Thornton by name. However, the airline did confirm there was an incident on a flight in May.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn\u2004\u200bMay 14,\u2004\u200bAmerican Airlines\u2004\u200bFlight\u2004\u200b1276\u2004\u200bwas met by\u2004\u200blaw enforcement\u2004\u200bupon\u2004\u200barrival at\u2004\u200bLos\u2004\u200bAngeles\u2004\u200bInternational\u2004\u200bAirport\u2004\u200b(LAX) following concerns reported by a customer\u2004\u200bonboard,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Thornton, 66, has been the voice of \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d since 2010, the same year original announcer Charlie O\u2019Donnell\u00a0died at the age of 78.<\/a><\/p>\n

Thornton was initially a guest announcer, according to\u00a0IMDb<\/a>, and officially joined the show as the main announcer for its 29th season in 2011. He has announced a total of 2980 episodes and has also served as an announcer for \u201cCelebrity Wheel of Fortune\u201d since 2021.<\/p>\n

His voice acting credits include roles in \u201cThe Cleveland Show,\u201d \u201cCelebrity Deathmatch\u201d and \u201cMonsters, Inc.\u201d as well.<\/p>\n

Thornton has spent most of his time on \u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d behind the cameras, with Pat Sajak and Vanna White serving as the hosts until\u00a0Sajak\u2019s departure in June 2024<\/a>. Ryan Seacrest began hosting the game show with White in\u00a0September 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Seacrest and Vanna White are back for “Wheel of Fortune’s” 44th season, which premieres Sept. 14. White has been on the show since 1982 and in honor of the new season Access Hollywood is looking back at her fabulous fashion over the years.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

This story first\u00a0appeared on TODAY.com<\/a>. More from TODAY:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWheel of Fortune\u201d longtime announcer Jim Thornton has been suspended from the show and his role will be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,2556],"class_list":["post-335463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-television"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}