There’s a scene toward the end of the movie in which they warned us that, even in this most idyllic re-telling of “The Blind Side,” there was always another side to the story.
Michael Oher has to be interviewed by the NCAA, and an actress portraying an NCAA official explains how Oher’s relationship with the Tuohy family might be construed by those less invested in a Hollywood ending.
“The NCAA fears that with your recruitment, a door might be opened – that boosters from lots of schools from the South will become legal guardians of young athletes without means and funnel them to their alma maters,” she tells Oher, played by actor Quinton Aaron, and at this point foreboding background music has already kicked in.
“I’m not saying I believe it. I’m not saying I don’t,” this NCAA villain continues. “But there are many people involved in this case that would argue the Tuohys took you in. They clothed you. They fed you. They paid for your private education. They bought you a car. They paid for a tutor. All as part of a plan that assured you played football for the University of Mississippi.”
You’ve probably seen what happened next because the book was a bestseller and the film went gangbusters at the box office.
Oher, after speaking with Leigh Anne Tuohy, tells the NCAA the Tuohys are his family and he’s going to Ole Miss because his family went there. Even back in 2010, when Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her role as Leigh Anne Tuohy, it all seemed to come together a little too easily. Particularly in Memphis, where everything actually took place. But most were willing to go along with it because Oher seemed willing to do so.
Today, now that Oher claims this entire narrative was built upon a lie, it’s no longer so neat and tidy. “The Blind Side” sequel might well turn into a legal drama after Oher claimed in a petition filed in Shelby County, Tennessee, probate court Monday the Tuohys misled him more than 20 years ago and ultimately enriched themselves at his expense.
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Whether these specific allegations wind up being true or not, whether this is simply Oher trying to drum up interest in his new book, or whether the Tuohys really did exploit Oher for their own financial gain, the whole fairytale is forever tainted.
Though Oher wrote in his first book more than a decade ago he did not like how he was portrayed in “The Blind Side” movie, though the proceeding years proved Hugh Freeze – Oher’s coach at Briarcrest High School in Memphis – wasn’t what he seemed either, there was still an underlying belief Oher thought the Tuohys had his best interests at heart.
Monday changed that, even though the national headlines seemed to be met with a collective shrug by the local community. The notion that the Tuohys’ relationship with Oher when he played football at Briarcrest might not be as serendipitous as it was presented had worst-kept-secret-in-town vibes.
But everyone knows now – not just Memphis – and a lot of them had previously bought into what author Michael Lewis and Warner Bros. wanted them to believe.
The truth, as the cliché goes, probably lies somewhere in between – in between the version of the story the movie and book told, the version Oher’s attorney laid out Monday and the version the Tuohy family is turning to defend themselves. The problem, of course, is “The Blind Side” didn’t sell in between.
A tale that was always too good to be true – about how football can bridge the racial and socioeconomic divides in this country – has 20 years later yielded potential lies and litigation.
It is still very much an American story. Just not the one we thought.
