Topics: US News, NFL, Sport, Mental Health, Celebrity, The Blind Side, Film and TV, Books, Social Media
People are flocking to social media in condemnation of The Blind Side author Michael Lewis after his comments about NFL star Michael Oher's lawsuit.
Oher filed a petition in a Tennessee court on August 14 alleging the Tuohy family never legally adopted him and they used the movie based on him and his story - 2009 release The Blind Side - to profit from him.
The sportsman also called out the movie, criticising it for misrepresenting his story.
The author of 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game on which the movie is based, Michael Lewis, has since reflected on Oher's lawsuit against the Tuohys.
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Oher's lawsuit claims the Tuohy family 'tricked him' into signing documents which made them his conservators.
The American football star also alleges he made nothing from The Blind Side, whereas the Tuohy's made '$225,000' plus '2.5 percent' of the film's 'defined net proceeds'.
Producers from the movie said the family and Oher collectively received around $767,000 in total from payments from The Blind Side.
This figure 'did not include significant payouts in the event of the film's success' since the people the film was based on were deemed to be 'relatively unknown individuals'.
The Tuohys have denied the allegations in Oher's lawsuit and branded it a 'shakedown effort,' stating the claims are 'hurtful and absurd'.
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game's author, Lewis, has defended the Tuohys, arguing Oher wouldn't have gone so far in his career without the family's support and was 'not useful' in football until they taught him more about it.
Lewis claims when he first approached Oher to hear more about his story, the player was 'not a strong voice on his life' and he 'didn't tell his story'.
"I had to go dig out his story, and I did it all with his permission," the author tells the Guardian.
Lewis reflected on Oher's lawsuit has 'a change of behaviour' which he says is 'what happens to football players who get hit in the head: they run into problems with violence and aggression'.
However, the author's comments have sparked backlash, people are flocking to social media to respond to Lewis' comments suggesting Oher's lawsuit is a result of 'aggression'.
One X - formerly known as Twitter - user said: "This is sooooo sad. They use that 'violence and aggression' to make money off of him, now they they got the money - they use the same thing against you."
"'Violence and aggression' when talking about a Black person is most definitely a racist dog whistle!!" another commented.
A third said: "Wow…calling this man 'aggressive' because he no longer wants to be used by those frauds is such classic gaslighting."
And a fourth resolved: "Violence and aggression? I mean, has Michael threatened anyone with violence? Aggression? It’s court filings not knuckle sandwiches. The author using those words are code."
UNILAD has contacted Michael Oher and Michael Lewis' representatives for comment.
