Producers of The Blind Side have broken their silence after the inspiration for the film, former NFL player Michael Oher, alleged he was cheated out of millions in royalties. On Aug. 14, Oher filed a lawsuit against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy stating that his former guardians tricked him into signing over the rights to his name and likeness and withheld Blind Side profits from him. Now, the heads of the company that produced the 2009 film, which starred Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw, are hitting back against Oher: "The notion that the Tuohys were paid millions of dollars by Alcon to the detriment of Michael Oher is false."
Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, the co-heads of Alcon Entertainment, issued a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Aug. 24, denying Oher's claims that the Tuohy family received millions in royalties from The Blind Side:
"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," Johnson and Kosove wrote. "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)."
In his lawsuit, Oher claimed the Tuohys signed a life rights deal with Fox for The Blind Side which granted the couple and their two biological children $225,000 and 2.5 percent of all future net proceeds, with Oher receiving nothing. One day after Oher's filing, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy accused Oher of trying to extort them out of $15 million.
Journalist and author Michael Lewis (The Big Short), who is also a childhood friend of Sean Tuohy's, wrote the 2006 nonfiction book on which The Blind Side is based. Lewis came to the family's defense, stating that he and the Tuohys received $350,000 in movie profits. He also alleged that the Tuohy family planned on splitting their share with Oher, but that Oher declined royalty payments.
