Media Too Blinded By Race To See Truth In 'Blind Side' Spat: Bobby Burack

Editor's note: This column first appeared in The New York Post.

Michael Oher is black. The Tuohys are white.

And those dynamics alone were enough for the corporate media to declare Oher a victim of the Tuohys upon a petition he filed Monday.

Oher, a former NFL offensive lineman, alleges that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy exploited him for profit.

He claims the Tuohys swindled him into signing a conservatorship, paving the way for the family to earn millions by telling his life story through the film “The Blind Side,” from which he earned none.

Oher says he just learned this year the Tuohy family never legally adopted him.

The allegations ruined one of America’s favorite feel-good tales: how a young boy stuck in the foster-care system on behalf of his drug-addicted mother landed in the home of a wealthy family who helped famous college football coaches notice him.

The allegations revealed Oher is now estranged from the Tuohys.

Perhaps there was a time when the press would receive a story like this and ask the proper questions:

Is there proof that the Tuohys misled Oher? How did Oher just now, at the age of 37, learn that the Tuohys never adopted him? What is the Tuohy’s side of the story?

But asking those questions would require corporate journalists to resist the emotional urge to immediately pick a side in an allegation, and risk missing out on an opportunity to capitalize on racial tensions.

The coverage of the Oher-Tuohy saga is indicative of the state of the corporate media, and its eerie wish to define story subjects by perceived racial tropes.

Thus, the press could not see past the skin colors of Oher and the Tuohys:

“‘Blind Side’ lawsuit shows strains in depiction of black athlete,” read a headline from the New York Times.

“’The Blind Side’ may be the worst white savior movie ever,” wrote MSNBC in response to the allegations.

“The Blind Side’s white savior tale was always built on shaky ground,” argued the ghouls at The Guardian.

“Will the upending of the ‘Blind Side’ story help chill Hollywood’s ‘white savior’ complex?” asked the Chicago Tribune.

Articles of similar tones can be found across the Internet.

According to the headlines, an already wealthy white family exploited a damaged black man, and white America ate it up.

But then there are the facts, most of which the press was too distracted by race to notice. 

Michael Oher’s own memoir, “I Beat the Odds,” contradicts his claim that he only recently discovered that the Tuohy family didn’t adopt him.

In the 2011 release, Oher explained why he signed documents to make the Tuohys his legal conservators:

“It kind of felt like a formality, as I’d been a part of the family for more than a year at that point. Since I was already over the age of eighteen and considered an adult by the state of Tennessee, Sean and Leigh Anne would be named as my ‘legal conservators.’”

Oher continued, “They explained to me that it means pretty much the exact same thing as ‘adoptive parents,’ but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account. Honestly, I didn’t care what it was called. I was just happy that no one could argue that we weren’t legally what we already knew was real: We were a family.”

Yet, 13 years later, Oher says 2023 brought upon him the appalling realization that he was under a conservatorship.

Moreover, neither “The Blind Side” film nor Michael Lewis’ 2006 book on which the film is based say the Tuohy family had adopted Oher.

Instead, the depictions specifically state Sean told Michael they’d like to become his “legal guardian.”

According to Tuohy family attorney Marty Singer, Oher approached the family prior to his recent court filing and threatened them with a “negative story in the press” if they did not give up an eight-figure check.

From what we know today, the story “The Blind Side” portrays Oher’s life with the Tuohys honestly. Oher knew of the conservatorship. He knew the Tuohys didn’t adopt him. And, most importantly, the Tuohys loved him.

They at least tried to rescue him from the tragedy that was the first 15 years of his life.

Michael Oher is a victim. He’s a victim of his upbringing. He’s a victim of his black mother’s addiction to crack. He’s a victim of the lasting trauma of not having a relationship with his father.

But he’s not a victim of the Tuohys and America’s fascination with the “white savior trope.”

In fact, the angry, screeching journalists in the press have failed to establish why race is relevant to the allegations.

Oher’s petition suggests a shakedown. He is selling the press a deceptively edited version of his life. And because of the racial dynamics at play, the press bought it.

There is more to see here than the skin colors of Michael Oher and the Tuohys.

Bobby Burack covers politics, culture, media and sports for OutKick.