As Michael Oher feuds with Leigh Tuohy and her family, the feel-good factor of 'The Blind Side' is all but gone. Without rehashing too many details, the former NFL player is challenging core parts of his adoption process as depicted in the film. On the other hand, his now allegedly adoptive family is calling is a $15 million shakedown.
It is clearly dividing the NFL fanbase. One faction that seems to have come out on the side of Michael Oher is the Memphis community. Many have come out and expressed their displeasure to having had to work with Leigh Tuohy and her family. It spawned a whole Reddit thread with people piling on them.
Here are some of the responses cataloged below:
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The beef between Michael Oher and Leigh Tuohy affects how people view 'The Blind Side'
Redditors and people who claim they are from Memphis and have met Leigh Tuohy are not he only ones who are disillusioned by the whole story behind 'The Blind Side'. At the heart of the entire controversy is the claim by Michael Oher that he had signed an conservatorship with the Sean and Leigh Tuohy but came to know that did not provide any familial link. His petition read, in part,
“Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February of 2023, when he learned that the conservatorship to which he consented on the basis that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy family, in fact provided him no familial relationship with the Tuohys.”
There has been a counterclaim by the Tuohys. A statement from Martin Singer, an attorney for the family, says,
“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 $15m.”
However, Sean and Leigh Tuohy have agreed to enter into a consent order to end the conservatorship despite their protestations.
It seems a lot of people are coming down on the side of the former Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans and Carolina Panthers player in the debate. A look at 'The Blind Side' on Rotten Tomatoes shows how the movie rating has fallen after the story broke.
'The Blind Side' consistently pulled four or more stars before Michael Oher accused the Tuohys. Now, every subsequent rating has been a single star.