Uh Oh. The Blind Side may be a load of crap

The Satellite
22

Oher earned about 30 million in NFL salary alone. That family helped him get there. Did he share his vast fortune with them?

Not saying he should have, but the least he could do is not begrudge them selling the story.

1 Like
23

He is asking to end the conservatorship and wants a full accounting of how much they negotiated for the movie.

They lied to him at different levels and it seems they too advantage of him and what he signed, they told him they adopted him but they never really did that.

The family got $225k and 2.5% of earnings from the film. They hid his portion it seems and they lied to him about what they actually received.

24

This is a complex story to digest. It’s unclear of how much money the family made off
of the movie’s net; read an estimate it’s in the $4-5 million range based upon $175 million net.

The lying over the adoption vs conservatorship is troubling. A true conservator would
have been looking out for his financial interests. And the thing being permanent sounds
like someone trying to be opportunistic.

Of Michael’s $30 million in NFL salary , he probably only saw about half of that due to taxes ;
but not sure how it may have been structured to minimize that. Was the conservatorship in effect for his NFL salary too ?

To borrow from coogjazz
”money posions everything”

25

And the sold themselves as something very different in the movie.

It’s really understandable why he’d be ticked about all of this.

1 Like
26

Watch the documentary. It goes into that. It also talks about these players live like they will be making this type of money the rest of their lives. They don’t. When “regular people” retire at 65, they need money to last them roughly 20 years. When athletes retire, they need money to last 50 years, but they still try to maintain the lifestyle without the income.

2 Likes
27

I think if you first thought is to bring up skin color after a basic question, you might be the racist one.

2 Likes
28

They lied to him about adopting him. Do you know how that might feel? I’ve known someone in a very similar situation and it hurts to the core. It never leaves you.

Top it off they made money off of HIS story not “the” story. It’s not a movie unless HE gets a scholarship and makes it to the NFL.

Sounds like they rode his coat tails while not truly accepting him into their family.

1 Like
29

OK, so I haven’t followed this story closely so I may be getting in over my head a little. But did they lie to him? Have the family even given their side? Oher likely benefitted financially from the fame that the book/movie gave him in the form of enhanced endorsement deals.

I am not claiming that the family did not do anything wrong, just that Oher was taken in, cared for and helped along his path towards a dream come true professional career. And now he is whining about them not being the saints that they make themselves out to be. That is a bad look - ungrateful is what it seems to me.

30

I watched the movie but I’ll check for the documentary.

1 Like
31

You have no idea what you’re talking about.

4 Likes
32

Yep.

33

The family was rich already. They owned a bunch of fast foot franchises in Memphis, and had just sold them for $200 million when they met Oher. They didn’t use him to make money.

2 Likes
34

Fair enough. I’m sure there was some unconscious bias in my mind there. However, that doesn’t mean I was necessarily wrong.

1 Like
35

Ok, got richer. Same issue.

36

So he has alleged net worth of 16 million, now I don’t know his debt load but news sources so far make it seem like being broke is not the reason for all this.sorry old and most likely white people.

If the Trouhy’s indeed had him sign a conservatorship telling him that is was part of being adopted into the family, then enriched themselves they absolutely defrauded him and he is entitled to the damages. Now it’s on him to prove that in court.

1 Like
37

You’re probably right. I’ll shut up now and get back if and when I learn more details.

38

I noticed he never talked about the movie. I always thought there was something fishy about him not embracing the movie.
The movie’s theme is family. The end scene is him telling investigators that he picked his college to continue the legacy of his adopted family. Guess the real story wouldn’t be as inspiring.

39

He’s always had issues with the movie. Mostly because it made him out to be borderline mentally handicapped who only learned to play the footballs because of what’s her face Trouhy. When he was playing football by the time he started living with them.

1 Like
40

The issue is conservatorship. Like Britney, it is to protect Mike but it gives full financial control of financial decisions to the the Tuoys.

He wants to undo that control and get it back from them.

41

Since apparently nobody read the article
four quotes that are important and damning, IMHO, (if true)
damning emotionally especially:

  1. Oher was a rising high school senior when he signed the conservatorship papers, and he has written that the Tuohys told him that there was essentially no difference between adoption and conservatorship. “They explained to me that it means pretty much the exact same thing as ‘adoptive parents,’ but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account,” Oher wrote in his 2011 best-selling memoir “I Beat the Odds.”

  2. But there are some important legal distinctions. If Oher had been adopted by the Tuohys, he would have been a legal member of their family, and he would have retained power to handle his own financial affairs. Under the conservatorship, Oher surrendered that authority to the Tuohys, even though he was a legal adult with no known physical or psychological disabilities.

  3. According to the legal filing, the movie paid the Tuohys and their two birth children each $225,000, plus 2.5% of the film’s “defined net proceeds.”

  4. “We divided it five ways,” the Tuohys wrote in their 2010 book, “In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving.”

So
The Tuohys and their birth kids all got 225K each*
Oher
the only reason the movie exists got nothing.

Anyone saying this is OK is not thinking clearly. It’s not ok. They effed him (if true).

Lets see how it plays out in court.

Also
this quote


  1. “Mike didn’t grow up with a stable family life,” Stranch said. “When the Tuohy family told Mike they loved him and wanted to adopt him, it filled a void that had been with him his entire life. Discovering that he wasn’t actually adopted devastated Mike and wounded him deeply.”

*possibly more because of the 2.5% of “net proceeds” 
but also maybe nothing more because they signed for “net” instead of “gross”
which is classic Hollywood how to screw someone
odds are this $300Million movie “lost money” accounting wise just so they didn’t have to pay anyone who signed a “net” deal and also for tax reasons. Be very wary of any “net” deal kids.

3 Likes