After former NFL player Michael Oher — the subject of the hit film "The Blind Side" — claimed that one of the key components of the story was false, some Twitter users are seeking to punish… Sandra Bullock.
Huh?
In a lawsuit filed Aug. 14 by the former Baltimore Ravens star, Michael said Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy never adopted him, as the popular movie suggests. In fact, he said it was more sinister. Michael claimed that he signed documents that placed him under a conservatorship led by the couple and argued that he was mislead when it came to the docs. He also maintained that he's received no royalties from the movie, but suggests that the Tuohy family has lined their pockets from his life story.
In the 2009 movie about Michael's life, Sandra played Leigh Anne, the matriarch of the Tuohy family and essentially the driving force in bringing the then-high school football star into the fold. Sandra won an Academy Award for her performance.
Twitter, though, thinks Sandra no longer deserves the Oscar because of the drama going on behind the scenes — this despite no evidence that the actress was aware of Michael's claims.
TMZ captured a snapshot of several anti-Sandra reactions. "If the Michael Oher allegations are true then we have to go AND TAKE THE OSCAR back from Sandra Bullock and give it to Gabourey Sidibe for 'Precious,'" one person argued. Another said, "Sandra Bullock should give her Oscar back. She knows she didn't deserve that s***."
"So Sandra Bullock should have to give back her Oscar right, and man do we need to start checking these good feeling stories," someone else argued.
On the other hand, several people said Sandra deserved the Oscar because she acted well and made Leigh Anne seem "likable."
Quinton Aaron — the actor who played Michael in "The Blind Side" — told TMZ Sports that critics need to stop. "To make a statement like that doesn't make any sense," Aaron said. "Sandra Bullock didn't have anything to do with the real story that we're reading as of right now. She gave a brilliant performance. And that shouldn't be tarnished for something that had nothing to do with her."
Sean Tuohy, who was played by Tim McGraw in the film, told the Daily Memphian that Michael was never tricked or mislead. The entrepreneur argued that Michael needed to be considered part of the family due to Sean's status as an NCAA "booster" at Ole Miss, where Michael ultimately attended college.
"I sat Michael down and told him, 'If you're planning to go to Ole Miss — or even considering Ole Miss — we think you have to be part of the family. This would do that, legally,'" Sean said. "We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn't adopt over the age of 18; the only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship. We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court."
Sean noted that he will gladly end the conservatorship, as long as it's something Michael wants.
Further, he scoffed at the notion that he and the family made a ton of money from "The Blind Side."
"We didn't make any money off the movie," he said. "Well, Michael Lewis ['The Blind Side' book author] gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each."