Michael Oher and the Exploitation of Black Bodies
The saga of the former NFL player and the parents he believed adopted him continues...
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Michael Oher, the former professional football player whose early life story was adapted into the film The Blindside, is finally free of the people he mistakenly believed had adopted him.
Back when he was 18-years old, Oher thought Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy had legally adopted him. Instead, they entered into a conservatorship which would allow them to enroll Oher at the University of Mississippi to play football. It also gave them complete control of his finances.
Oher filed a petition to the court to end the conservatorship, bar the Tuohy’s from using Oher’s name, image and likeness (NIL), and demand a full accounting of the monies accrued from the film (for which Sandra Bullock won an Oscar) based on his life.
This week, a judge granted the first part of their demands—she ended the conservatorship.
Michael Oher’s saga points to the ways that Black bodies are still used for profit and exploitation.