The production company behind The Blind Side has chimed in on the recent lawsuit between Michael Oher and the Tuohy family, bucking back against claims of the film’s legitimacy and how they paid people involved.
What did Alcon Entertainment have to say?
In a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter), Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, the co-heads of Alcon Entertainment, said that any claims The Blind Side’s true story was fabricated as “mischaracterizations and uninformed opinions.”
The pair also noted that it did not pay the Tuohy family millions of dollars, but instead just $767,000 to the talent agency that represented both the Tuohy family and Oher.
“The deal that was made by Fox for the Tuohys’ and Michael Oher’s life rights was consistent with the marketplace at that time for the rights of relatively unknown individuals. Therefore, it did not include significant payouts in the event of the film’s success,” they write. “As a result, the notion that the Tuohys were paid millions of dollars by Alcon to the detriment of Michael Oher is false. In fact, Alcon has paid approximately $767,000 to the talent agency that represents the Tuohy family and Michael Oher (who, presumably, took commission before passing it through).”
Alcon’s statement comes after comments from The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game (which was the basis of the film) author Michael Lewis also claimed that Oher’s lawsuit wasn’t sound. Instead, Lewis blamed the world of Hollywood for paying himself and the Tuohys/Oher so little for the rights to story.
“Everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system,” Lewis said. “Michael Oher should join the writers strike. It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets.”
What is The Blind Side lawsuit about?
In Oher’s lawsuit, he claims that the Tuohy’s never actually adopted Oher but instead signed him into a conservatorship and have profited off of him for years. The lawsuit also alleges that Oher has not made any money off of the success of The Blind Side, which made over $300 million at the box office.
Oher’s petition asks the court to end the Tuohys’ conservatorship, and issue an injunction that bars the family from using his name and likeness. It also seeks to give Oher a full accounting of the money the family made while using his name. Oher is also seeking to be paid back the fair share of profits from the film, as well as other unspecified damages.
While the Tuohy family hasn’t addressed the claims, an attorney speaking for them has said they are untrue.
