A few enraged members of the public have said Sandra Bullock’s Oscar for her performance in The Blind Side should be withdrawn after the guy who inspired the film launched a lawsuit against the family he moved in with.
If you’re having difficulty connecting these two events, it’s because there isn’t one. But it hasn’t stopped others from looking for it.
Bullock played Leigh Anne Tuohy in the 2009 film The Blind Side, playing the matriarch of the family that took in Michael Oher as a teenager when he was destitute.
The film is reported to be based on genuine events, and it won an Oscar nomination for Best Picture as well as a victory for Bullock for Best Actress.
However, Oher, now 37, has filed a lawsuit accusing the couple who took him in of lying to him. According to legal papers, Oher discovered in February that the conservatorship to which he agreed on the understanding that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy family in fact offered him no familial relationship.
At no point did the Tuohys notify Michael that they would have final control of all his contracts, and as a result Michael was unaware that if the conservatorship was authorized, he was signing away his right to contract for himself, according to the complaint.
According to the lawsuit, the Tuohy family entered into a movie contract for the rights to Oher’s narrative for $225,000 plus 2.5 percent of future revenues, but Oher at no time willingly or knowingly signed this document.
Although Bullock played Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side, there is no proof that she was aware of what Oher or his family may or may not have agreed to when she filmed the film.
She came on set as an actress and acted in the part she was given – a performance that happened to be excellent enough to win her an Oscar.
The lawsuit filing does not invalidate Bullock’s performance in The Blind Side, but some critics believe she should have the Oscar withdrawn in light of the claims against the Tuohy family.
“So Sandra Bullock should have to give back her Oscar right, and man do we need to start checking these good feeling stories,” one commenter said.
“If the Michael Oher allegations are true, then we have to go AND TAKE THE Oscar AWAY FROM Sandra Bullock and give it to Gabourey Sidibe for ‘Precious,'” said another.
Fortunately, some individuals have come out in support of Bullock in the aftermath of the lawsuit.
“Not y’all calling for Sandra Bullock’s Oscar to be revoked,” one wrote. It’s not her fault that the real-life characters were predatory fraudsters and criminals.”
Oher’s action asks for the conservatorship agreement to be canceled and compensation based on the millions garnered by his name and narrative.
