ItllBeOnTV: Subject of Sandy Bullock movie says adopted family swindled him

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Bob Jersey

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Aug 14, 2023, 8:42:45 PM8/14/23
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Michael Oher, who went on to an NFL career after being epitomized in The Blind Side, said in a court filing in Tennessee that the Tuohys never adopted him, and duped him into signing a document when he turned 18 granting them conservatorship over him, depriving him of any further profits from the film... Sean Tuohy denied his claim, countering that he and Leigh Anne only made a lesser amount from the book that inspired the movie...
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Bob Jersey

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Aug 17, 2023, 4:19:37 PM8/17/23
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Maybe Oher is forgetful (football can do that to a guy)... TMZ says he was aware of the conservatorship in 2011, when he was interviewed for a biography...
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Moi, Aug 14th:

Bob Jersey

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Aug 17, 2023, 4:39:10 PM8/17/23
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The author of the book the Bullock film was based on, weighs in... Michael Lewis told the WaPo 20th paid $250k for the rights, split between Lewis and the family, but Oher started turning down the checks written to him, and Lewis suspected the money was being put in a trust fund for Oher... *and* Oher reportedly signed away his rights to 20th, who never paid him, and ultimately dropped the film (Warners released it later)...
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Moi, Aug 17th:

Tom Wolper

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Aug 17, 2023, 5:10:41 PM8/17/23
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All of the stories right now are from lawyers saying their side is all innocence and the other side is pure evil. Give it enough time (without breathless headlines) and the two sides will settle for an undisclosed amount or the case will continue to discovery where all sorts of details will come out.

Oher played to a second contract in the NFL which means he earned millions. There has been nothing reported about that money being subject to the conservatorship and it should dwarf the amount he is suing the Tuoheys for. If there’s a story here, that’s it.

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PGage

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Aug 17, 2023, 8:36:28 PM8/17/23
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Hopefully this will drive many to go back and watch the film and realize just how horrid it is…

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Mark Jeffries

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Aug 18, 2023, 11:30:48 AM8/18/23
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If you want to, it's on Hulu.

Mark Jeffries
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Melissa P

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Aug 20, 2023, 10:08:14 PM8/20/23
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A bit of background that's never included in the story:

Not relevant, I assume.

Briarcrest Baptist High School -- the school in the film -- was established when busing started in Memphis -- as a place for White students to flee public schools.  White teachers, as well as White students, left the public schools to avoid desegregation.

The turmoil occurred during my final years of high school, and I remember it well.  

So, I can't watch the movie and not think of that time when Briarcrest became the option for the younger siblings of my friends. (I graduated two years before the changes took place.)

A few years ago, I had lunch with one of my classmates whose husband had applied to be an assistant golf coach at the school; he was turned down because he wasn't the right kind of Christian.

I think it's an important part of the school's history -- that should never be ignored or forgotten -- but obviously the movie's producers didn't see it that way.

PGage

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Aug 24, 2023, 10:38:58 AM8/24/23
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I think that background is relevant Melissa, thanks for sharing it. It’s too easy to dismiss the Tuohys as nothing but arch racists, but Melissa’s background, the film and book, and now these new revelations are consistent in hi lighting the condescension and exploitation at work here.

What is new to me is the revel that the Tuohys lied about adopting him (and whatever they are saying now, they did lie about this) and the motivation for conserving him, which was to side step NCAA recruiting rules. The NYT story linked below with excerpt does a good job of explaining this. 

I don’t blame Oher for wanting a strict accounting of all the financial transactions involved, but so far we have no evidence that they used their conservator powers to cheat him out of NFL money. They did get paid $350K or so for the movie (as did book author Lewis, who seems to feel the real scandal is that he and the Tuohys did not get paid enough for the film rights) while Oher got nothing. But why conserve him instead of adopt? Even though he was 18 he could still have been adopted, and there was never a claim that Oher had a disabling physical or mental disorder, usually a prerequisite for conservatorship, though the judge who granted it now denies a disorder is required. 

I conclude the Tuohys were motivated to illegally steer a blue chip football prospect to Ole Miss, where they were huge boosters. Also that they saw a chance to profit, not so much from the film rights, but from the fame this conveyed, which they exploited to help their restaurant and public speaking businesses. They conserved instead of adopting to protect their own wealth from Oher, not to protect Oher from himself or others. They told Oher they were adopting him to take advantage of his need to feel like a part of a stable, loving and affluent family, and he is understandably hurt and angry upon finally learning the truth, which is that these rich white folk did not really make him part of their family, but used and exploited him for their own purposes and benefits, while ensuring he had no claim on their wealth later through inheritance.


Because the Tuohys were not Oher’s parents, providing support to him could have been seen as breaking N.C.A.A. rules against providing benefits to recruits. As significant donors to the University of Mississippi, one of the colleges recruiting Oher, the Tuohys might subject themselves and the school to penalties in case of a violation.

So they put together a plan. They asked a court to give them wide authority over Oher’s affairs, including power of attorney, control of his medical decisions and the right to approve financial contracts on his behalf. The arrangement, they believed, would satisfy the N.C.A.A. Oher, then 18 and legally an adult, agreed to it.



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Bob Jersey

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Sep 14, 2023, 10:28:49 PM9/14/23
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Tuohys file official response, "vehemently deny[ing]" Oher's claims...
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PGage, to Melissa P, Aug 24th:

PGage

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Sep 15, 2023, 7:47:30 AM9/15/23
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This is an odd denial. They admit that they referred to him as adopted even though he was conserved, they admit to conserving him to subvert NCAA recruiting rules to get him into Mississippi, and they admit that they (the Tuohys - husband wife and two kids) got $385K out of the Blind Side deal while Oher only got $45K. And they can not deny that their business benefited tremendously from all the publicity.

What they deny is that they ever adopted Oher, which is consistent with what Oher is charging. They imply that they told the newly turned 18 yo they were conserving him at the time - maybe they did (though maybe they didn’t) but likely even if he would not have understood what it meant, especially when after that they referred to it as adoption.



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