The ongoing saga of the Michael Oher and Tuohy family scandal continues as new allegations of blackmail have come into the mix.
Sean Tuohy via CBS News YouTube, screenshot
According to a report from Fox News, the attorney representing Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy, the couple who brought in and raised Oher as a teenager and helped him discover his talents on the field, issued a earth-shattering statement alleging that Oher blackmailed the Tuohys and threaten to release the information regarding his ‘adoption’ unless they paid him off for $15 million.
“Anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that the outlandish claims made by Michael Oher about the Tuohy family are hurtful and absurd,” said Attorney Martin Singer in response to Fox News.
“The idea that the Tuohys have ever sought to profit off of Mr. Oher is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous.
Leigh Anne Tuohy via CBN News YouTube, screenshot
“Through hard work and good fortune, Sean and Leigh Anne have made an extraordinary amount of money in the restaurant business,” Singer continued. “The notion that a couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars would connive to withhold a few thousand dollars in profit participation payments from anyone – let alone from someone they loved as a son – defies belief.”
Oher, a first-round 2009 NFL Draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens, filed a petition in a Tennessee court to terminate a 2004 conservatorship. He claims he was misled into believing the conservatorship was akin to adoption. Oher also alleges that he didn’t profit as much as the family did from the 2009 movie “The Blind Side.” However, the family’s lawyer counters this, stating Oher received an equal share of the film’s earnings, which exceeded $300 million.
“When Michael Lewis, a friend of Sean’s since childhood, was approached about turning his book on Mr. Oher and the Tuohys into a movie about their family, his agents negotiated a deal where they received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits. They insisted that any money received be divided equally. And they have made good on that pledge.”
Singer also alleged that the Tuohys were threatened by Oher, saying that he intended to “plant a negative story about them in the press unless they paid him $15 million.”
To make things even more tense, son Sean Tuohy Jr. said in an interview with Barstool Radio that he has evidence in the form of text messages among Oher and the Tuohy’s showing that as early as 2020, Oher was made away of the fact that he was not the Tuohy’s legally adopted son, counter to Oher’s claims he found out only within the last year.
“There were things back in 2020, 2021 that were like, ‘If you guys give me this much, then I won’t go public with things,’ So, I don’t know if that’s true,” Tuohy told Barstool Sports’ President Dave Portnoy.
How much money were the Tuohy's making off 'Blind Side'?@BarstoolRadio w/ Sean Tuohy Jr. pic.twitter.com/gse956sJoF
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) August 14, 2023
Singer also stated that at all times, the Tuohy’s were “upfront” about how the conservatorship differed from legal adoption and thy “will never oppose it in any way” if Oher in fact decides to terminate it with approval from a judge.
“The Tuohys will always care deeply for Mr. Oher,” said Singer. “They are heartbroken over these events. They desperately hope that he comes to regret his recent decisions, makes different choices in the future and that they someday can be reconciled with him.
“In the meantime, however, they will not hesitate to defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit.”
NEXT: In Many Ways, Michael Oher Has ALREADY Been Paid For ‘The Blind Side’