Remember the character actress Sandra Bullock played in the 2009 blockbuster “The Blind Side?” The woman was named Leigh Anne Tuohy. The story focused on how the Tuohy family took in a young football player named Michael Oher and eventually adopted him into their family n Memphis, Tennessee. Well, Oher is now 37 years old, retired from the NFL, and really ticked off about what he said really happened.
Oher sued the Tuohy family, claiming they did not adopt him but manipulated him to make millions. Also, Oher says he hasn’t seen a dime from the movie. He is asking the court to end the Touchy family’s conservatorship, stop them from using his name and likeness and provide a full account of the money they made from using his name, according to a story on Yahoo. He also wants what he calls a “fair” share of profits in the lawsuit.
The story of the Tuohy family adopting Oher came out in a book released in 2006 called “Blind Side: Evolution of the Game.” It was just a few months after that he said that the family began negotiating a movie deal that would pay the family, including their two birthright children, millions of dollars. The film was a hit; it won an Oscar and brought in over $300 million at the box office.
The cash register for the Tuohy’s has been ringing every since Oher said. And that’s why he has filed suit. The family members were each paid $225,00 plus 2.5% of the profits. Not only that, but Oher’s life story was sold to 20th Century Fox Studios in 2007, and the Super Bowl-winning offensive lineman said he didn’t get any payment for it.
Oher retired from the NFL in 2016, and he’s used some of his free time to dive deep into the financial realities of being involved in the film. He feels he was taken advantage of and ripped off. And there is another thing he has pointed out that if you saw the movie, you probably think he has a good point. He claims that in real life, he is far more cheerful and outgoing than the character portrayed by an actor named Quinton Aaron. He’s right. Aaron rarely smiled in the film and had no spark or charisma whatsoever.
The feel-good, heartwarming theme the movie tried to pounce on is far from reality, according to Oher. Even in 2015, when he played for the Carolina Panthers, you could sense bitterness about how he felt about the film.
“I’m not trying to prove anything. People look at me, and they take things away from me because of a movie. They don’t really see the skills and the kind of player I am. That’s why I get downgraded so much, because of something off the field,” he told ESPN.
As for the Tuohy’s? Sean Tuohy was interviewed by the Daily Memphian on Monday and said, “It’s upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children. But we’re going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16. We didn’t make any money off the movie. Well, Michael Lewis [the author of the book ‘The Blind Side’] gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000 each.
Add comment