Sean and Leann Tuohy issued the following statement through their attorney, Martin Singer.
"Anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that the outlandish claims made by Michael Oher about the Tuohy family are hurtful and absurd. The idea that the Tuohys have ever sought to profit off Mr. Oher is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous. Through hard work and good fortune, Sean and Leigh Anne have made an extraordinary amount of money in the restaurant business. The notion that a couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars would connive to withhold a few thousand dollars in profit participation payments from anyone - let alone from someone they loved as a son - defies belief.
In reality, the Tuohys opened their home to Mr. Oher, offered him structure, support and, most of all, unconditional love. They have consistently treated him like a son and one of their three children. His response was to threaten them, including saying that he would plant a negative story about them in the press unless they paid him $15 million.
When Michael Lewis, a friend of Sean's since childhood, was approached about turning his book on Mr. Oher and the Tuohys into a movie about their family, his agents negotiated a deal where they received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits. They insisted that any money received be divided equally. And they have made good on that pledge.
The evidence - documented in profit participation checks and studio accounting statements - is clear: over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from The Blind Side. Even recently, when Mr. Oher started to threaten them about what he would do unless they paid him an eight-figure windfall, and, as part of that shakedown effort refused to cash the small profit checks from the Tuohys, they still deposited Mr. Oher's equal share into a trust account they set up for his son.
Additionally, in spite of the false allegation in the lawsuit, the Tuohys have always been upfront about how a conservatorship (from which not one penny was received) was established to assist with Mr. Oher's needs, ranging from getting him health insurance and obtaining a driver's license to helping with college admissions. Should Mr. Oher wish to terminate the conservatorship, either now or at anytime in the future, the Tuohys will never oppose it in any way.
Unbeknownst to the public, Mr. Oher has actually attempted to run this play several times before - but it seems that numerous other lawyers stopped representing him once they saw the evidence and learned the truth. Sadly, Mr. Oher has finally found a willing enabler and filed this ludicrous lawsuit as a cynical attempt to drum up attention in the middle of his latest book tour.
The Tuohys will always care deeply for Mr. Oher. They are heartbroken over these events. They desperately hope that he comes to regret his recent decisions, makes different choices in the future and that they someday can be reconciled with him. In the meantime, however, they will not hesitate to defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit."
49 comments:
If Touhy's are worth a couple hundred million why would
they want any part of what the movie made ?
Guess they just greedy
The world is run by greed.
Money is the Root of all Evil.
That's why I don't have $none$.
Cause I don't want to taste that bitterroot!
Oher thinks the Tuohys would be embarrassed to the point of paying ransom if he tells the world that they are merely rich boosters of Ole Miss football who used their wealth to subvert the NCAA rules and trick a poor All-American lineman into their ultimate control.
As if anyone with more than a pea sized brain didn't already know that. The big-wigs at Alabama, LSU, Auburn, and Tennessee are just jealous that they didn't think of it first! Embarrass the Tuohys? C'mon Mike.
I am eagerly awaiting the press conference by Mr. Oher's lawyers announcing they are representing him pro bono. They are only doing this out of the goodness of their hearts and do not wish any payment in return except his sincere thanks.
Right?
I'm patiently waiting for the rest of the story, as the late Paul Harvey said. None of this makes any sense, and there is plenty of BS coming from all sides.
He also needs to stir up some drama to be relevant again for his new book.
Maybe they should have negotiated a better deal for the movie.
There is a huge obvious lie in this statement. It states that the Tuohys have always been upfront about how a conservatorship was established. This is false and an absolute lie. They stated publicly on many occasions that they adopted Oher. Sean Touhy told me to my face that Oher was adopted.
Maybe Oher deserves zero money. Maybe Oher is extorting them. But that doesn't change the fact that the Touhy family lied repeatedly about the adoption.
It's like the Cyndi Lauper song, "Money Changes Everything."
They loved him like a son. What's not to love? He was an All-American left tackle. Hell yes. Jeez.
Oher is now trying to bring the actress Sandra Bullock into this cluster.
( He's saying the actress should return her Oscar for portraying Leigh Anne Tuohy)
Good lord ... sounds like Carlos the Clown is advising Oher.
I really had no opinion about this, until now.
Like many others, I now think Oher (irrelevant for years ) blew his fortune and is now grasping at straws.
And for what it's worth, the actor that portayed Oher in the film is staunchly behind Ms. Bullock.
"...you knew I was a snake..."
It’s called marketing people. To sell a book or sell an idea. I wonder if Michael has spent all of his nfl money
I'm sure Hugh Freeze will make a good character witness for the Tuohys.
Just like always, there'e nothing to see!
Move along!
Just like the NCAA did when looking at UMiss hiring Freeze.
They moved along!
They’re kinda sounding like pompous pricks with all these press releases. Actin like people with “extraordinary” amounts of money would never do such a thing like con somebody for money. I know some rich folks that’d sell their soul for an extra thousand. They don’t get rich by ignoring chances to make money. I first thought Oher was wrong but now I’m thinkin they’re just as bad. They did front to the world this whole time that they adopted him way back then.
G.
Miss state u has paid plenty of players.......with cheese and other dairy products from their famous ag programs.
Dude is destroying people that loves him over money and to promote his book deal. How convenient is it he filed the lawsuit the day he decided to come to MS to promote his book. Anyone with half a brain would know his inheritance will be more than any book he ever sells and he would have a family in the meantime.
"Rich people bad" -Usual Suspects
Just imagine the folks that are in Oher’s ear. Really sad.
There's a certain smell in the air.
No, @3:49, money is not the root of all e il. The love of money is the root of all evil. Read your bible.
Adoptions and conservatorships are completely different things. The Tuohys should be facing criminal charges for taking advantage of a vulnerable adult.
" They’re kinda sounding like pompous pricks with all these press releases ".
Whether they are sounding like pompous pricks or not, I'm glad they immediately challenged Oher's claims.
It was a "win-win" for both parties at the time.
But now, I'm betting they wish they should have left Oher on the streets of Mam'phiz.
6:30 Inherit from who? If there's no adoption there's no inheritance, at least not from the Tuohys. They said they loved him LIKE a son not AS a son.
Big difference.
oLE MESS SHould BE thrown out of the sec.
throw thim, out!
If Oher wants to down the Tuohy bunch and give his side a shot of credibility he needs to repeat two words constantly: HUGH FREEZE.
Cyndi Lauper is somehow relevant? ROFLMAO
Trolls just want to have fun.
Wonder what Mikes wife thinks of all of this. The one he married last year. We shall see.
Anyone with a brain can see Oher is dead set on destroying the Touhy's reputation but that won't happen.
Money is the root of all evil & Oher is displaying he needs financial resources.
Oher showed his lack of respect by showing up in Oxford the day he started this mess. Son you bit the hand that fed you.
Well then
The book's author responds:
"Author Michael Lewis responded Wednesday to accusations from former NFL lineman Michael Oher,: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/08/16/michael-lewis-blind-side-lawsuit/
Here is a little factoid supplied by Micheal Lewis in the above linked story:
"According to Lewis, Twentieth Century Fox, as it was then known, paid $250,000 for the option to make “The Blind Side” a movie, which he split 50-50 with the Tuohy family. The Tuohys have said they split their share evenly, including with Oher. After taxes and agent fees, Lewis said, his half was around $70,000.
Fox, however, never made the movie. (According to Lewis, the studio had thought Julia Roberts would be interested in the film, but she wasn’t.) Instead, Lewis said, Alcon, a small production company backed by Tuohy’s neighbor, FedEx CEO Fred Smith, stepped in. Instead of paying the actors large salaries, Lewis said, they were offered a share of the profits. Lewis said his deal provided him a share of the movie’s net profits, too. Warner Bros. distributed the movie."
Also is anyone wondering how Mr Lewis first became aware of this Oher/Touhy best selling story?
According to this story dating to 2009:
"Before he even was aware of the story that would become his book, Lewis -- the author of the inside-baseball tome "Moneyball" -- had been working on an article about his own baseball coach from his days at Isidore Newman School. As part of the process, he called an old Newman teammate, Sean Tuohy."
https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/movies_tv/sandra-bullocks-the-blind-side-boasts-deep-local-connections/article_fd6aee89-aa40-50cd-8913-14e6ed9f2857.html
There is being lucky, and then there is making your own luck!
As someone said the other day, "Mike, tell us you're broke without telling us you're broke." No way he would have waited a fraction of this time to bring up this "issue" if he didn't NEED the money.....
"Anyone with half a brain would know his inheritance will be more than any book he ever sells and he would have a family in the meantime."
Actually, the only reason I can figure to set up a conservatorship of the person in this case, instead of an adoption, was to prevent Michael Oher from becoming an heir at law of Sean and Leann Tuohy.
Furthermore, the only reason I can come up with to have never closed out the conservatorship is because they would have had to give Michael notice of it, and by doing so risk all of this coming out.
Not one post on JJ yet about how the zeitgeist has changed everything?
For the last seven years, the left has hijacked the national narrative. Justice systems and society's views are upside down. Very often, it's timing that determines whether or not to file a suit...which is always about claiming money under the guise of justice.
The cultural divisiveness that now exists made the timing for this suit to be filed far more viable, especially if it were to go to trial. In time, too much public attention toward a wealthy white family deeply connected to the "ole' Missus" exploiting a impoverished black youth quite possibly not for money, but to knowingly skirt NCAA rules and shepherd a sought after talented young black man to their historically white supremacist institution. The case is now ripe for public opinion to weigh very heavily against the Touhy's regardless of anything they say. Misrepresentation is misrepresentation. Connect the dots and it's impossible not to see the real reasons behind "adopting" THIS particular young man was college recruitment of a player - especially with Freeze's involvement - and not a benign exercise in altruism.
It won't be about the money - it will be about the lies hidden in plain sight as good Christian charity of white saviors "helping" a poor black youth. But the truth is, Oxford via the Touhy's attempted to practice chattel with a man's life, no different than with their taco, burger, & chicken joints which might not have sold so lucratively without the feel-good story behind the family.
Perception is reality, and in today's climate - it's arc leans toward reparations.
The Tuohy’s should have left Oher where they found him. I believe they thought they were helping him but should have told him that they couldn’t adopt him. Oher is obviously needing money and wants to drum up interest in his book. This is indeed a shakedown.
10:54 It's called Pigskin Love. The kind of love that results in conservatorships and guardianships, not adoptions.
The popular narrative was that they had adopted Oher.
iT IS A SHAKEDOWN. Sad, surely Michael has not blown all the NFL money already
Pigskin Love.
When you choose to ignore the toll the game inflicts on those who play it because Hotty Toddy!
Turning young men into disabled and dead men due to the same types of brain injuries that have give boxing a bad name for deacades.
At this point it seems Oher is at risk going forward, one of the first players forced out of the game because of concussion because the NFL actually finally had to pay attention to concussions.
If the Touhys still have a conservatorship, then perhaps they might be wishing they had unwound that earlier.
SHAKEDOWN? Of course it's a shakedown. And why not? There is no honor among thieves and turnabout is fair play. The Tuohys began this fiasco all lawyered up and got what they wanted, now their "son" is lawyered up and trying to get what he wants. Both of 'em should lose.
@7:15 makes an excellent point. Because the Touyhs are White and monied, there is nothing they can do or say that will make the media and its slack-jawed audience smack their foreheads in any “Oh, NOW I see!” epiphany.
To the Touhys and any wannabe-Touhys, accept this: You can never balance the scales. Do not even try. You will never atone for the sins imputed upon you. You and your children and their children will wear the stain forever.
But a little bit of that Benjamin grease will help every now and again.
This all should come as no surprise. The book and the movie are mostly fantasy made to make the Touhys especially Leann look like benevolent angels who accidently saw this big dumb kid living in poverty that they took into their home, sent to private school and taught to play football, and lo and behold he wants to go play at their alma mater and turns out to be an All-American who they love so much they "make him part of their family." But while making the Touhys look like angels, the story makes Oher look like a dumb slob who would be nothing without their love and care. The Touhys have to love their enhanced Hollywood portrayal but Oher has always hated it. It was a huge win for the Touhys and Ole Miss, but Oher had to keep his mouth shut. He had to be dying to tell the truth about his recruitment by rich Ole Miss boosters to play football for the Rebels. He thinks the real story will embarrass the Touhys so much they would pay for his silence. The Touhys will not pay and both parties will face the truth. They both richly deserve that.
7:15 nailed it.
Facts do not matter in judicial concerns when a person of color is claiming malice toward a wealthy white person.
The Tuohey will not be allowed to prevail here. This is just the world we live in now.
Not a good time to be white and rich...especially with a movie about how you "rescued" a black kid. No good deed.
Just my own viewpoint, from way outside the Football Culture and way outside the Ole Miss Culture: but from what I can see, the Tuohys are creepy, tacky people.
Their own statements, and what I can SEE, tell me this. They look like Polyester Blazer Republicans, and White Trash (not Rednecks) with a BIT of money.
Their statements read like those of narcissists - narcissists who've lived immersed in a culture of pathological liars. Pathological Lying is defined as being cultural.
The Tuohys seem unable to get their clothes fitted properly. And I shudder to think that Leigh Anne is really an interior designer. From what I can see, her taste is HORRIBLE. In fact, her home's interior tells me that her money supply is sporadic, and that she furnishes her house (and dresses herself and her family) with what she finds while bargain-shopping.
Overall, I get an 'Opportunistic but Disorganized' vibe from what I see, and what they say. They want to be bigtime kombinators, but can't quite get their act together.
Ole Miss was taken-over by creepy, entry-level arrivistes - many of them from Memphis - a bit before my time. When we moved to Jackson, it was readily apparent that the Carpetbagger/Gold Coast "dynasties" were proud of being "Ole Miss People". But what else was there in Jackson? You couldn't judge Ole Miss by what sorts from Jackson, sent their kids to Ole Miss. Memphis, presumably, is a different matter, and if the Tuohys are representative of Memphis' 'Ole Miss Types', then I don't have to wonder why kids from nice families don't want to go there, anymore.
Memo to the Touhy's : Next time just to the local animal shelter and adopt a dog.
12:41
Is your prescription for medical MJ a little too much?
You really think a net worth of $100 million is a BIT of money? How much do you need to have REAL money?
What are you looking at to SEE all these things about the Tuohy’s. How many times have you been in their house, or in her closet?
You do realize that movies alter the facts to tell the story they want told. Reporters do that too.
I wish I was so disorganized that I could build a business and sell it for $200+ million dollars.
I wish I knew what that last paragraph meant, but if I did I would probably be a Polyester Blazer Republican White Trash Redneck, or something similar.
Unlike most, if not all of those who have posted about this issue, I know all of the parties and the facts. The Tuohys did not take any money to which Oher had a right. After the conservatorship is ended by an agreed court order, the sham claim for money damages will be dismissed in short order. As is said, no good deed goes unpunished.
Doctor friend of mine was at Ole Miss with the Tuohy parents. The parents were both cheerleaders and insufferable second generation douchbag rich kids. They post endless photos of their wealth on ‘gram while claiming that Oher had been adopted by them. Oher was never adopted - they instead had a conservatorship established so they could control Oher’s name, image and likeness. I don’t know who to believe in this case - but the stink from it is strong.
1:48
Are you stupid, or is your alleged doctor friend stupid, or do you just like to make crap up. Sean Tuohy was a record breaking all-SEC hall of fame basketball player. Not a cheerleader. Kinda of a different skill set.
His father was a high school basketball coach. How many rich high school basketball coaches do you know?
There was no NIL (or anything even close to that) when Oher went to Ole Miss. if Oher got money at Ole Miss it was under the table money and no conservator had control over it.
You do know that people other than doctors went to Ole Miss.
Geeze let’s move on to another drama. There are plenty out there tearing up families that don’t have that kind of money!
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