Fans Leap To Sandra Bullock's Defense Amid Blind Side Scandal: 'She Was Just Acting!'
Sandra Bullock was unfairly dragged into the middle of the drama involving Super Bowl champ Michael Oher and the Tennessee couple who assumed the role of his seemingly big-hearted adoptive parents, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy. Now, Oher is claiming the Tuohys never actually adopted him at all, which would mean the touching events depicted in the movie that Bullock won her Oscar for in 2010, "The Blind Side," are all just a blatant lie.
In the film, Bullock plays the role of Leigh Anne, a mother who welcomes Oher (Quinton Aaron) into her upper-class family's home after learning that the teenager from the projects has nowhere else to go. She becomes fiercely protective of him, and he begins to excel on the football field with some stability and support in his life. Eventually, the Tuohys let Oher know that they want to become his legal guardians. But now, the real Oher is accusing the unromanticized version of the Tuohys of deceiving him by having him sign a conservatorship that allowed them to profit off of his name to the tune of millions. Per court documents obtained by ESPN, Oher claimed that the Bullock movie was a big payday for the Tuohys and their kids — but he was denied a well-deserved slice of the pie.
While Oher fights to control the narrative surrounding his own life story, fans of Bullock are leaping to her defense.
Michael Oher disliked The Blind Side
Whether or not the actual true story of "The Blind Side" is that of an already well-off couple blinded by greed, what Sandra Bullock fans know to be true is that she's blameless in Michael Oher's court battle against the Tuohys. As many people on Twitter noted, she was just playing a role and, just like the former Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle, she didn't know the full story at the time. In his lawsuit against the Tuohys, Oher says he didn't find out about the couple's alleged deception until February 2023. "Leave Sandra Bullock alone," one Bullock supporter tweeted. "She's an actor who obviously did not know the truth about that family."
There were also those who expressed sympathy for the star because she's facing unwarranted criticism during such a traumatic time in her life; Bullock is mourning the recent death of her boyfriend of eight years, Bryan Randall. "She was just acting. It's the real family y'all should be pissed at. Let the woman grieve about losing her partner," another tweet read.
In 2015, Oher told ESPN that "The Blind Side" damaged his NFL career by giving people misconceptions about who he is. "They don't really see the skills and the kind of player I am," he said. But Bullock did get to see him shine on the field during the Super Bowl in 2013; according to Us Weekly, she even dressed her son Louis in an Oher jersey for the happy occasion.