UCF’s SJ Tuohy saddened by Michael Oher allegations against family | Commentary
Running off at the typewriter …
The rush to judgment on social media was sad to watch earlier this week in regard to the Tuohy family.
Can’t we at least wait to gather all of the facts before canceling the Tuohys and portraying them as a conniving family of white privilege who exploited a young Black man who thought he was their adopted son?
When I contacted him earlier this week — SJ Tuohy, who heads UCF’s “Kingdom” NIL collective — did not want to talk publicly about his family’s ugly legal battle with former NFL player Michael Oher, but Tuohy seemed hurt and saddened by the whole ordeal. Another source close to the Tuohys said “the damage has already been done” in today’s cancel-culture world.
SJ Tuohy’s wealthy parents — Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy — took in Oher when he was in high school and the story became the basis of a best-selling book and inspirational Oscar-winning movie The Blind Side. On Monday, Oher filed a petition in a Tennessee court accusing the Tuohys of tricking him into thinking they were adopting him and instead had him sign a document making them his conservators, which gave them legal authority to make business decisions and deals in his name.
The petition further alleges that the Tuohys used their power as conservators to strike a deal that paid them and their two biological children millions of dollars in royalties from the film that earned more than $300 million.
Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, through their attorney, say they split their minimal royalties (about $500,000 and not in the millions) from the movie equally among themselves, Oher and their two biological children — son SJ and daughter Collins. They also say Oher’s claims are “outlandish,” “hurtful and absurd” and part of a “shakedown” by the former NFL offensive tackle. The family accused Oher of threatening to plant a negative story about them unless they paid him $15 million.
SJ Tuohy, in an interview with Barstool Sports earlier this week, says Oher’s claim that he found out about the conservatorship in February of this year is not believable.
“If he says he learned that in February, I find that hard to believe,” SJ Tuohy said. “There were family group texts back in 2020, 2021, [of him saying,] ‘If you guys give me this much I won’t go public with things.’ ”
Two questions that need to be answered: (1) Why would the Tuohy family, which made hundreds of millions of dollars buying and selling more than a hundred Taco Bell and KFC franchises, want to bilk Oher out of his money? (2) Why did Oher, 37, wait until now to come out with these accusations when the movie was made nearly 15 years ago?
SJ Tuohy wonders if Oher’s explosive allegations are tied to the release of Oher’s new book — When Your Back’s Against the Wall — just a few days ago.
It’s going to be interesting to see where this story ends up.
All we really know right now is that real life isn’t as it’s portrayed in the movies. …
Short stuff: If the DeVos family is going to be castigated for the $50,000 donation it made to the Ron DeSantis campaign in the name of the Orlando Magic a few weeks ago, then they certainly deserve to be commended for once again donating $1 million to the community in the name of the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation (OMYF). If you’re scoring at home, the Magic and OMYF now have donated nearly $30 million over the years to underprivileged youth organizations. No matter where you sit politically, that’s a winning campaign! … It took only one quarter of a preseason game for the Indianapolis Colts to name rookie Anthony Richardson as their starting quarterback. Prediction: I don’t know how good of a real quarterback the Gators alum is going to be, but he will be a top-5 fantasy quarterback this season. Book it! …
Another prediction: Graham Mertz, Richardson’s successor as the Florida starter, will be a better quarterback than both Fred and Ethel Mertz. … Did you see the allegations in a new book by renowned gambler Billy Walters that Phil Mickelson bet more than a billion dollars over the last three decades? If that’s true, then Mickelson — as a gambler — makes Pete Rose look like a little old lady from Pasadena playing the nickel slot machines at the Golden Nugget in Vegas. … Question: If FSU is trying to get out of the ACC, then why are the Seminoles objecting to Stanford and Cal joining the ACC? Just wondering. …
After seeing PGA Tour golfers burning up in the brutal heat at The St. Jude Championship last weekend and the entire backside ot Lucas Glover’s slacks drenched in butt sweat, I agree with golf influencer Paige Spiranac who says the Tour should tear a page out of LIV’s playbook and allow golfers to wear shorts. “Lucas Glover won for the second week in a row in a hot and humid Memphis,” Spiranac said. “He also won for the worst documented case of swamp a– that we have ever seen. The guys were absolutely dying. They were sticking their hands in the ice coolers to bring their body temperature down. It is 2023, get it together, give the guys an option to wear shorts.” I don’t know what’s sillier — golfers wearing long pants in 100-degree heat or NBA coaches wearing $10,000 three-piece suits while coaching basketball. … James Harden already has eaten, malingered and pouted his way off several NBA teams and now it appears he is trying to insult his way off the Philadelphia 76ers by publicly calling GM Daryl Morey a “liar.” If ever there was an argument for non-guaranteed contracts in the NBA, it’s Harden. …
Last word: In recognition of Janet Guthrie, the women’s racing trailblazer honored by the NASCAR Hall of Fame earlier this month, here is her reply back in the day when a good ol’ boy reporter asked her if women were physically strong enough to compete in NASCAR: “You drive the car; you don’t carry it.”