255: The Real Blind Side: The PR Battle Behind Michael Oher's Lawsuit Against the Tuohys

Transcript

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This week on the podcast, a look into the unfolding legal and PR drama between NFL veteran Michael Oher and the two families famously portrayed in the film the blind side.

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Side note in 2009, Sandra Bullock spoke with Entertainment Weekly about her role as Lee and to in the film.

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Entertainment Weekly shared the interview again last week.

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In the story they quoted Lee and to a quote.

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I am all about loving and giving, but I'm going to kick your ass if you do something you're not supposed to do and quote foreshadowing.

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Welcome to the indestructible PR podcast, where we share breaking news and pop culture zeitgeist moments that aren't just for social media.

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Each week, I pick a buzzy story, analyze the juicy bits and follow the PR lesson using tried and true media and PR tricks in the trade.

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This podcast can help you dodge those crisis curveballs and build a reputation that's not just strong, it's indestructible.

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In today's episode, the legal battle between Michael or and the two ease and the real life story behind the blind side.

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You all saw the movie, right, we all did.

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From the author of one of my favorite movies, money ball, came the book the blind side evolution of a game that was turned into a movie.

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Now, watching this movie, I'm sure many of you were focused on the Michael Oher story and his acceptance into the two ease family.

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I'll admit I was also focused on whether or not Sandra Bullock could pull off being a blonde and the reveal of Tim across hair under his ever pressing cowboy hat.

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Is it just me?

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Now fun facts about the film.

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Before we get into the more downcast portion of the podcast.

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Julie Roberts was offered to play the role of Leanne to it before Sandra Bullock.

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She turned it down three times because of her concerns about playing the part of a devout Christian.

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What Julie Roberts walked away from Sandra Bullock?

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She took a pay cut to make the film and agreed to a percentage of the film's profit.

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That was a win, along with the other win of the best leading actress Oscar for her performance.

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And also think by the end of the film she could pull off that color, but I think she looks better as a brunette.

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But the movie is not just about family and fame and how relationships can be perceived in the public eye.

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That is true for real life as well.

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So Michael, or the inspiration behind the film and the book.

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Last week he filed a lawsuit against the Tui family.

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They took him in as a teenager and he claimed that when he was 18 years old in 2004, he was duped into signing a petition that designated them as his conservators and gave them the authority to manage his business and interests legally.

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Now in this podcast, I want to look at the two statements that came from both sides the both legal sides and to provide us with a fascinating look not just at the legal strategy, but also the PR strategy, because a public relations narrative can play into a legal narrative, so it's important to get the information out there quickly, and the information that you put out there is the one that shapes or frames the narrative.

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So let's analyze the two statements now.

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First, let's look at the Tui family statement.

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It's a little interesting when you look at the timing of what the Tui's were doing when they found out this information.

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Now, if you read the headlines or if you follow on social media, you know the headlines of the story.

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We're not talking about a lawsuit here.

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We're just talking about Michael or wanting to step back from his conservatorship.

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He wants to have full legal control of his finances, away from the Tui family.

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Now, knowing that there's likely more at play, I think we can see what is at play when you read the statement.

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So not only do I want to look at it from a public relations point of view, I want to look at it from a human relations point of view, because I think that plays a bigger role in this case.

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I don't think this is a legal case.

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This is a family case, and the reason why this became big news is the same reason why a lot of crises turn into big news, and I'll let you know what that is.

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Okay, first let's get into the statement from Marty Singer.

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He is the attorney representing the Tui family.

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Sound familiar?

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It should sound familiar.

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I just mentioned him on the podcast when I was talking about Lizzo, and did it sound familiar when you listened to the Lizzo podcast?

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Of course it did, because I also talked about Marty Singer when I was talking about Ricky Martin and other clients that he's had.

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His name comes up a lot because he's known as a legal fixer, and in Hollywood, if you're a legal fixer, you're also a PR fixer, and that's what Marty Singer is.

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So I mentioned Lizzo and Ricky Martin, but also Charlie Sheen, quentin Tarantino, jonah Hill someone else who I talked about on this podcast.

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He is someone who is going to get his client through something legally and reputationally and he has a very take no prisoners approach.

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I had an interview today with a media outlet and we were talking about Marty Singer and I was saying we were talking offline, I wasn't being interviewed, I was a pre-interview for a show and I said he reminds me of Harvey Weinstein.

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You know how Harvey Weinstein just bullied people to do things for him and it turned out he bullied people women to do things for him that would be sexually for these lot of cases actresses to work with him.

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It feels like Marty Singer has that same type of bully behavior in how he approaches these legal cases.

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But just as Harvey Weinstein's method of bullying in order to get an outcome that he wanted, I feel that Marty Singer's approach is just as antiquated.

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It's for a different time, it's for a different news cycle, it's for a different culture of people who look differently on behaviors.

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That's just my preamble.

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Now let's get into the statement itself.

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I have to be honest, I'm not going to read the entire statement.

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It's too long and that is part of the problem.

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It is six paragraphs long.

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I'm only going to read the first paragraph and then I'll pull out information because, honestly, I don't need to read the entire statement because you're just going to get a sense of it from the first paragraph.

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So here we go, quote Anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that the outlandish claims made by Michael Orr about the Tui family are hurtful and absurd.

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The idea that the Tui's have ever sought to profit off Mr Orr is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous.

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Through hard work and good fortune, sean and Leanne have made an extraordinary amount of money in the restaurant business.

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The notion that a couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars would connive to withhold a few thousand dollars in profit participation payments from anyone, let alone from someone they loved as a son, defies belief.

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Now, that was part of a statement that first was released to ESPN.

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This came out on Tuesday night and I'm going to get into why the timing matters.

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Now.

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The framing that you heard there clearly was negative, and a signature mark of Marty Singer is in the first paragraph of all of his legal statements.

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He comes out, guns blazing, he comes out and portraying his client as the victim, which is understandable in a legal case.

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However, the people who hire him are the ones who did the doing.

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You know what I mean.

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They're the ones who have been sued.

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They're the ones who people are filing some legal action against them.

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So he tries to paint his client as the victim right outside the gate, and how he does that is a strategy that you see a lot of times, called this darvo.

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It's where you blame the victim.

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So the first thing we hear in that statement or that you read, if you happen to read the entire statement he is questioning the intelligence and the credibility of Michael Orr.

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So the statement starts with that demeaning tone, stating that everyone with a modicum of common sense can see that Orr's claims are hurtful and absurd, and not just Orr, mr Orr.

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He's not the 18-year-old, 17-year-old kid anymore.

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He's Mr Orr as hurtful and absurd.

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So it's also suggesting that Orr's arguments lack any rationality or any type of logic, which is the same thing that the movie did to Michael Orr, and he was quoted as saying that he was not pleased with how he was portrayed in that movie.

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So the school where he was enrolled was called Breyer Crest, and his job that he was a left tackle.

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So he was heavily recruited by a lot of top schools, and so he was portrayed, though, as someone who never even had a shot you know, really at football if it weren't for the Tui family.

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But also the film portrays him as this unskilled big guy who was barely acquainted with football.

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So he did not care for the fact that the movie portrayed the Tui family and their love of football as the reason why Michael was a good football player.

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And he had said that he was not enamored by the forest-gump-like depiction of himself in the film.

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In other words, he's saying I don't like how the film portrayed me as someone who was slow, and this statement does the same thing.

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Next, singer is portraying malicious intent by stating that Orr was threatening the Tui's.

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Now the son, sean Tui Jr, he's known as SJ.

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He was on Barstool Sports Radio.

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In my TikTok I said it was the podcast.

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Forgive me for not being completely up to date on everything that Dave Portnoy does, but so he was doing that interview with SJ and in that interview SJ said so this is the son who was like a brother to Michael or not an actual brother that he was suggesting that Michael or was trying to scam you know, the money from the family, that he was demanding 15 million dollars and if they did not pay up he was going to plant negative stories about them in the press.

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And so he had said Shawn to a junior had said that he had attempted to run this play several times before and that was a quote and that he tried it and numerous other lawyers this is a quote from Shawn to a junior quote.

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Numerous other lawyers stopped representing him once they saw the evidence and learn the truth and Quote.

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Now what's interesting about these types of statements?

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That they are stating that there was some malicious intent.

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We always hear about the word 15 million dollars.

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15 million dollars, but we only hear that from the twoies and Singer representing the twoies.

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So that clearly is a framing tactic that is in this story that Michael or is somehow trying to extort the twoies.

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Also, that sinks into this idea of having very cynical motives for what he's doing to the family.

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So in this statement it's accusing him of filing the lawsuit as an attempt to drum up attention for his book tour.

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So he's framing his actions as self-serving and manipulative.

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It's interesting a friend of mine who is Bringing her son or brought her son down to Ole Miss to start school his freshman year.

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She sent me a photograph of a book signing.

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So Michael or was signing a book on Tuesday, august 15th at 5 pm, ole Miss.

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So my friend was saying you know, you know I've had a couple friends, you know that had mentioned that it all seems timed To when his book was coming up and also what's what's kind of interesting here too, the only friends of mine are people that I know who have written to me about this case, are all friends who I identify as Republicans.

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I mean not necessarily like extreme Conservative or someone who I disagree with.

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I lived in Washington DC, you know, for a number of years, and when I lived there I worked during the time of George W Bush's White House years.

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So a lot of my friends are, you know, I identify as Republican and I identify as an Independent.

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And then I of course I have New England friends and my DFL Minnesota friends.

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So I have friends all across the spectrum and so I have all of these friends.

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But I thought it was interesting that the only ones who mentioned this Michael or piece and kind of question the motives of Michael or, or at least his book publishers, are my friends who identify as Republicans.

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And it took me a couple steps to even recognize that that was a part of the story.

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I never thought about it, I thought it was just this family, but I went oh wait a minute.

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So that led me to go to Fox News and see what some of the headlines are and is there a slant to the story?

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So, in other words, this goes into my college classroom.

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Is there an agenda setting theory at play?

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And that theory is when editors, you know, can decide what makes news.

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Now You're not gonna see it as much you know in a, in a newspaper, for instance, or local television.

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They, you know they, want to bring the news, you know straight.

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But there is gonna be, you know, some bias in news and there's a lot of liberal bias.

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I shouldn't say a lot, but there is liberal bias in mainstream media, certainly, but in Fox News you're going to get the slant to the right.

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And sure enough, like I was pulling out your two headlines from Fox News, michael Orr demanded $15 million and threatened to quote plant a negative story.

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The two we family attorney claims, sean Lee, and two we denied allegations through their attorney.

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But Michael Orr demanded $15 million.

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So a lot of the headlines that I saw in Fox News were very pro to a and very anti, you know, michael, or because part of the two we Brand is that they are Christian and Lee.

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And two, we is a born-again Christian and a very open born-again Christian.

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So this story I didn't even think of it in that way, but it's also another one of those stories that falls on either side.

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And again, if my friends are listening to this episode, it's not a knock against my friends at all and actually I think my friends because they opened my eyes to another aspect of this story.

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Okay, so continuing on with that negative framing, he also in this statement was highlighting past legal failures.

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I'd also mentioned that SJ was saying that on bar stool as well.

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So this idea of attempting to run this place several times before but failed due to lack of evidence.

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So this statement undermines his credibility.

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So it's going to portray or as dishonest, or persistently dishonest, or Deceptive.

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They're also going to paint him as Ungrateful because this family took him in and this family didn't need to take him in.

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I mean, he didn't look the same as everyone else, and that is something that the movie stresses, as does the family, that not every adoption looks the same.

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So by emphasizing that Michael or or turned his back on this family, despite everything that they did for him.

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So, despite all the love and the care and the financial support, he's portrayed as ungrateful, disloyal, and that further tarnishes his image.

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So these framing techniques, they collectively serve to discredit or and paint him in a highly negative light and that's going to contrast sharply with this Virtuous image that's painted by the twoies.

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Because Leanne to we, a part of her branding is all about Families not matching.

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They don't have to look the same to be a part of the same family.

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Now let's compare this to Michael or's legal statement.

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Now, I first found out about this statement during a media interview and this is not the best time to ever learn Information about the story that they are interviewing you for.

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But I was speaking with Elena Nicolaou.

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So she's a senior entertainment editor at todaycom and she covers television, pop culture, movies and all things you know, streaming and viral.

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I get a lot of interviews like this nowadays and I have to tell you it's reporters like Elena and also producer I spoke with when NPR the day before I appeared on the morning edition with Steve Inske Reporters who understand and cover digital media, these digital media reporters.

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They can get into the nuance of stories.

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They can read between the lines very, very quickly in stories.

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So I think there's a reason why they call me is because I'm doing the same thing.

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But, truth be told, they're doing it in their full-time jobs and they're doing a very, very good job at it.

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I'm trying to keep up with them, as in the case of Elena here, when she said did you see the Michael or statement?

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I didn't.

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So she forwarded it to me and Thankfully I was expecting another you know like legal ease and I would have to, you know, dip into it.

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And not only was I doing this interview quickly, I had to run out the door.

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But I was so pleased Because, thanks to the attorney representing Michael or Don Barrett, I was able to summarize my thoughts quite easily, because the statement only had two lines.

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Marty Singer statement on behalf of the twoies had more paragraphs Than the horse statement had in lines.

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So in this case I can read the entire statement Again.

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This is attorney Don Barrett representing Michael or.

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Quote we try cases in the courtroom based on facts.

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We have confidence in our judicial system and in our client, michael or.

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We believe that justice will be served in the courtroom and we hope to get there quickly.

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And quote there is so much in those three lines.

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I've never heard of Don Barrett, but I respect Don Barrett for these reasons.

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Just the brevity in that statement tells you everything that you need to know about it.

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It's about brevity, it's about facts, it is a counter-strike to singer's sensationalized statement and they're countering it with honesty and truth.

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It's his way of simply saying we don't believe your statement.

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As a matter of fact, we think your statement is hyped up.

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We don't agree with your legal strategy of not just creating these lengthy, bombastic legal statements.

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Marty Singer is also notorious for handling the media and he wants to bait Orr's team to go head to head with him in a media fight because he thinks he'll win.

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Now Lizzo when he represented Lizzo, that was somewhat successful because the dancers who sued Lizzo was represented by an attorney who was putting them in every single media interview he could get his hands on.

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It became a media circus.

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And that's exactly what Marty Singer wants, because when you compare both teams in a media setting, he's not putting Lizzo up for scrutiny, but he's providing plenty of news with the press, plenty of fodder for the press.

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But meanwhile the counter strategy is to bring out the dancers who are not media trained and they may lose credibility by being on air and telling their stories.

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There could be some positive aspect to it, but there's also a risk to it.

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This statement is saying I'm not taking the bait, we are not taking the bait, we don't have to take the bait because the facts alone represent our case.

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He didn't have to say anything more because there is nothing else to say.

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Now, the quote that Elena used in the todaycom piece was mine, which I wish I would have rephrased, but I liked the sentiment.

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I liked what I was trying to stay here, and that was, I said.

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Someone like me who works in public relations smells fear.

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So it's reasonable to assume that there would be a lot of information coming out about the transactional nature of the relationship.

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So I think that Marty Singer's statement is one that is based on a fear that more of the truth is going to come out.

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Now.

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Do I have facts in this?

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No, I do not.

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Can I back it up with any proof?

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I can't, other than anecdotally.

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I see this happen all the time.

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Okay, and why does this happen and why do I think this?

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I've said before that public relations is just a spin on human relations.

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I did an interview earlier today.

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I guess today is a big media day for me, but I did an interview where I said I get too much praise for being someone who can predict things that will happen in the public relations realm.

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I'll predict what will be in a statement.

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For instance, I was predicting what was going to be in Lizzo's legal statement, like I predicted that she was going to deny it, and I predicted other things in the celebrity world, in the celebrity realm.

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But it's easy.

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It's easy for me.

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You know why, and it's easy for any of you because I'm not predicting strategic public relations moves.

00:22:41.313 --> 00:22:44.103
I'm strutting human moves and human behaviors.

00:22:44.103 --> 00:22:49.117
Humans repeat patterns and people will repeat their patterns.

00:22:49.117 --> 00:22:53.226
When people are under stress, they all react in very similar ways.

00:22:53.226 --> 00:22:59.363
It takes a lot of control to not reflexively respond in a certain way.

00:22:59.363 --> 00:23:01.788
So I'm no genius, I'm just playing the odds.

00:23:01.788 --> 00:23:05.971
You know that if someone, like if someone, gets kicked in the shin, they're going to say ow.

00:23:05.971 --> 00:23:07.699
That's easy to predict.

00:23:07.719 --> 00:23:19.868
But there's something about Marty Singer's strategy that speaks a little bit more to me, and what that has to do with is the human behavior behind bullying.

00:23:19.868 --> 00:23:28.592
People who bully bully for a reason they want to give the appearance that they're very strong, that they're very threatening.

00:23:28.592 --> 00:23:32.963
However, bullying is just another form of manipulation.

00:23:32.963 --> 00:23:37.989
It's another form of trying to rest control when they've lost it.

00:23:37.989 --> 00:23:43.521
It shows a lack of empathy and it almost always comes with victimization.

00:23:43.521 --> 00:23:57.640
Whenever I see bully tactics, not only in PR but in life, I know that there is weakness and fear behind it, and that's what Marty Singer does, and I also think that this is an antiquated legal strategy.

00:23:58.010 --> 00:24:02.780
I do not think that we have the social media culture that tolerates bullish behavior.

00:24:02.780 --> 00:24:03.403
Why?

00:24:03.403 --> 00:24:05.739
Look at all the social media crises that happen out there.

00:24:05.739 --> 00:24:12.857
Look at all the people who are called out on social media, not just celebrities and people in the public eye, people who are just creators on social media.

00:24:12.857 --> 00:24:18.935
If they want to follow someone, everybody is going to let them know that they're wrong and they'll just like run them out.

00:24:18.935 --> 00:24:20.255
Happens all the time.

00:24:20.255 --> 00:24:23.559
So when you see this behavior, it is so easy to predict it.

00:24:23.930 --> 00:24:31.094
I think Marty Singer, the reason why he's been such a bull with Lizzo and with the twoies is because he knows.

00:24:31.094 --> 00:24:33.520
He knows there's holes in the story.

00:24:33.520 --> 00:24:35.769
He knows that Michael Orr has a case.

00:24:35.769 --> 00:24:37.849
He knows that Lizzo's dancers has a case.

00:24:37.849 --> 00:24:40.194
He knows it the only thing he can do.

00:24:40.194 --> 00:24:47.861
Really, if he's going to do a case and try it in the court of public opinion, he's got to go with this type of strategy in his mind.

00:24:47.861 --> 00:24:53.795
But the reason why I think he's out of step is because he doesn't take into consideration the social media culture.

00:24:54.330 --> 00:25:03.829
The legal bully strategy worked at a time like the Harvey Weinstein years, when you could bully editors into not doing a story or changing their story, taking things out of a story.

00:25:03.829 --> 00:25:05.256
He's a Hollywood fixer, remember.

00:25:05.256 --> 00:25:07.377
He can bully people to do certain things.

00:25:07.377 --> 00:25:14.898
He might tell an editor okay, you're going to bury this story, but I'm going to give you some juice on someone else and you can run with that story.

00:25:14.898 --> 00:25:16.730
And why do they do this?

00:25:16.871 --> 00:25:22.781
Because look at the motivation and if you can compare it now, think in your life, have you ever met anyone?

00:25:22.781 --> 00:25:25.471
Well, I'm going to answer this for you yes.

00:25:25.471 --> 00:25:27.017
Have you ever met anyone going through a divorce?

00:25:27.017 --> 00:25:31.401
Yes, have you ever met anyone going through a difficult divorce?

00:25:31.401 --> 00:25:41.440
Yes, have you ever met anyone going through a difficult divorce where they cannot get divorced, that there is someone who desperately needs to get divorced but it doesn't happen and you always wonder like why is it taking so long?

00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:42.365
Is it the money?

00:25:42.365 --> 00:25:42.746
Is it this?

00:25:42.746 --> 00:25:43.450
Like what's going on?

00:25:43.450 --> 00:25:44.453
Like what are they trying?

00:25:44.453 --> 00:25:47.374
You know what are they tangling over so many times?

00:25:47.374 --> 00:25:49.961
What is happening there is there's a power imbalance.

00:25:49.961 --> 00:25:56.809
Someone has the goods, someone has the truth, someone has been victimized, someone has been abused.

00:25:56.809 --> 00:26:07.838
Some whether it's financial, physical, whatever it is someone's been abused and someone said I've had it, I've had it, I'm done, I need to make a legal move to separate myself from this.

00:26:07.838 --> 00:26:10.537
Okay, I need this to stop.

00:26:10.537 --> 00:26:12.517
So then there comes legal action.

00:26:12.517 --> 00:26:15.898
Now, when that takes place, what is the motivation?

00:26:16.230 --> 00:26:20.161
Now, someone who's like a bully or maybe has this narcissistic behavior.

00:26:20.161 --> 00:26:26.002
It always stems from this deep-seated need for admiration and validation.

00:26:26.002 --> 00:26:29.500
If someone divorces them, they can't be admired.

00:26:29.500 --> 00:26:35.210
They worry that people are going to look at them in a different way, that their true selves may be revealed.

00:26:35.210 --> 00:26:47.240
So they're going to do whatever they can to stop that divorce, because if that divorce stops, no one's going to think negative of me and they're going to do everything in their power to make sure that that stops, because they don't want that pain to happen.

00:26:47.650 --> 00:26:56.701
But meanwhile, the other person on the other end of it is being victimized within an inch of their life, and usually it's money, threats, reputation, it's all of it.

00:26:56.701 --> 00:27:01.077
It all comes down to bullying, all of it, and always it almost always happens.

00:27:01.077 --> 00:27:03.898
So take that case of the people that you know in your life.

00:27:03.898 --> 00:27:09.499
Oh, and, by the way, if you know people like that, reach out to the person who's trying to get divorced and they can't get the divorce.

00:27:09.499 --> 00:27:10.976
They're the ones that need help.

00:27:10.976 --> 00:27:28.329
But when those types of cases happen and that bullying behavior is happening, it means again that there's weakness, and there's weakness to the case, which is the reason why I think there's something more to the story, other than Michael Orr just wanting to end his conservatism.

00:27:28.329 --> 00:27:35.529
There's more to that story and I think we can see that within the contrasting legal statements.

00:27:36.394 --> 00:27:43.210
When we have a legal bully, we have someone who's trying to cover things, and the reason why that doesn't work nowadays is because of public scrutiny.

00:27:43.210 --> 00:27:48.730
People can anyone can voice their opinion, but now on social media, people can do it on social media as well.

00:27:48.730 --> 00:27:50.890
Also, there's information to access.

00:27:50.890 --> 00:28:00.489
So many people can look at all that like when people go missing on crime talk and in all the people who follow crimes, how many of them uncover stuff on their own.

00:28:00.489 --> 00:28:03.224
I interviewed God.

00:28:03.224 --> 00:28:04.170
Why was I interviewing this police officer?

00:28:04.170 --> 00:28:04.678
I can't remember why.

00:28:04.678 --> 00:28:07.829
And we were talking about the use of social media.

00:28:07.829 --> 00:28:23.930
And he said oh my goodness, we take in social media tips all the time Because we know that these people are investigating things that our department simply doesn't have the, not the man, I don't want to say the manpower what's the right way to say manpower, human relations power, people power to investigate.

00:28:24.733 --> 00:28:31.307
Also, there's the shift in public sentiment when you're too bully-ish, people will side with the victim who's being bullied.

00:28:31.307 --> 00:28:33.910
Michael Orr is being bullied, just like Lizzo's dancers.

00:28:33.910 --> 00:28:39.930
Also, when there is this opposition, it can organize on social media very, very quickly.

00:28:39.930 --> 00:28:43.450
And that is what is happening to the twoies, in my opinion.

00:28:43.450 --> 00:28:50.963
I think they have their strength in their Christian conservative, maybe Republican Fox News world.

00:28:50.963 --> 00:28:51.690
They're going to have their support.

00:28:51.690 --> 00:28:59.289
But overall, I think most people look at the story and say the twoies are taking advantage of Michael Orr.

00:28:59.289 --> 00:29:01.289
I think it seems very, very clear.

00:29:01.289 --> 00:29:04.730
So that's what I see when I see this bullying behavior.

00:29:04.730 --> 00:29:15.268
I think the twoies did take advantage of Michael Orr and Michael Orr likely when he so he's writing this book.

00:29:15.268 --> 00:29:16.089
And why is he writing this book?

00:29:16.089 --> 00:29:20.089
I think it's reasonable to assume that Michael Orr ran out of money.

00:29:20.089 --> 00:29:24.089
I don't think we know that, but he could very easily have money issues.

00:29:25.113 --> 00:29:28.505
Now you'll also notice another legal strategy.

00:29:28.505 --> 00:29:32.009
That's happening with Marty Singer and with the other twoie attorneys.

00:29:32.009 --> 00:29:33.777
There's other attorneys.

00:29:33.777 --> 00:29:36.969
There Is the same thing that you're going to happen in a lot of other legal cases.

00:29:36.969 --> 00:29:40.069
There they're going to fight about the low hanging fruit.

00:29:40.069 --> 00:29:44.089
They're going to dangle the low hanging fruit out there that the press will pick up.

00:29:44.089 --> 00:29:51.049
So, for an example, they keep talking about this $15 million shake down and they also get into a lot of details.

00:29:51.391 --> 00:29:52.594
That's the other thing that people do.

00:29:52.594 --> 00:29:57.878
When they're in a case and they're on the wrong side of the case, they love to talk about details, details, details.

00:29:57.878 --> 00:30:07.585
In any argument this goes into human relations, right, any type of argument whatsoever If someone focuses too much on the details, then they start to create details and they create things.

00:30:07.585 --> 00:30:08.069
They're always wrong.

00:30:08.069 --> 00:30:15.049
They're always trying to manipulate you by fear, by telling you we are so smart, we remember every single detail.

00:30:15.049 --> 00:30:18.089
You cannot get this over, because remember four years ago when you said this.

00:30:18.089 --> 00:30:19.705
I remember saying it.

00:30:19.705 --> 00:30:21.141
It's just a tactic, it's a bully tactic.

00:30:21.141 --> 00:30:24.240
So on the twoie side.

00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:36.089
You're going to notice there's a lot of details, lots of details about numbers and about the movie and how much money they made in the movie and in that movie there is a discrepancy in the dollar amount.

00:30:36.932 --> 00:30:42.069
Now, I said that there was some legal things at play when the story broke last week.

00:30:42.069 --> 00:30:46.089
So let me go back to Sean Tooe Jr and his dad, sean Tooe.

00:30:46.089 --> 00:30:50.089
Now I mentioned that SJ the junior appeared on Barstool Radio.

00:30:50.089 --> 00:30:56.049
Now the father, sean Tooe, was interviewed about the case.

00:30:56.049 --> 00:30:57.758
Now the Daily Ment Fan.

00:30:57.758 --> 00:30:58.119
Now I'm actually.

00:30:58.119 --> 00:31:00.069
The reason why I needed to dig in this is because I'm doing it.

00:31:00.069 --> 00:31:06.089
I'm doing a live interview with a local Memphis TV station about this case tomorrow.

00:31:06.089 --> 00:31:22.089
So this story, so reporter, a local story interviewed Sean Tooe and it appears that Sean Tooe only found out about Michael Orr's petition is when a friend of his sent him a link to the ESPN article.

00:31:22.089 --> 00:31:26.089
So it appears that that's how the twoies found out about this case.

00:31:26.757 --> 00:31:28.069
Now think about timing.

00:31:28.069 --> 00:31:32.089
So think about how quickly he needs to come up with a statement.

00:31:32.089 --> 00:31:34.201
So he did an interview.

00:31:34.201 --> 00:31:36.049
Either they reached him or maybe he reached out to him.

00:31:36.049 --> 00:31:37.635
I don't know.

00:31:37.635 --> 00:31:39.936
You know he probably has a lot of connections down there.

00:31:40.250 --> 00:31:44.089
But he said in this article that the twoies did profit from the film.

00:31:44.089 --> 00:31:47.460
But he said, quote, we didn't make any money off the movie.

00:31:47.460 --> 00:31:53.501
And he said well, michael Lewis, who's the author of the book the Blind Side, gave us half of his share.

00:31:53.501 --> 00:31:56.089
Everyone in the family got an equal share, including Michael.

00:31:56.089 --> 00:31:59.019
It was about $14,000 each.

00:31:59.019 --> 00:32:04.049
And quote think about that movie and think about how much money that movie made.

00:32:04.049 --> 00:32:08.981
Can we believe that the family members each made $14,000?

00:32:08.981 --> 00:32:13.089
And even if that was the case, why would each Tooe family member get $14,000?

00:32:13.089 --> 00:32:17.821
I know they portrayed all of them, but the whole movie really is because of Michael Orr.

00:32:17.821 --> 00:32:23.881
Even then let's say that's true We'll give Michael Orr like $20,000 and then the family can split the rest of it.

00:32:23.881 --> 00:32:33.378
Because the twoies have made millions of dollars, and which is what their lawyer is pointing out why wouldn't they give all the money to Michael Orr?

00:32:33.378 --> 00:32:35.876
Why wouldn't he get all of the money?

00:32:35.876 --> 00:32:40.601
So it's hard to believe also, that it was only $14,000.

00:32:41.089 --> 00:32:56.002
Okay, so the first thing that the twoies did is they went to their family attorney it's Steve Ferrizzi, I think I'm getting that name correct and he had said and this was the first quote the family would file a legal response to the allegations in the coming weeks.

00:32:56.002 --> 00:32:57.585
Okay, so we got weeks.

00:32:57.585 --> 00:33:01.266
In a social media world, we don't say anything is going to be done in weeks.

00:33:01.266 --> 00:33:02.089
That tells me something.

00:33:02.089 --> 00:33:04.069
This is probably a very good local lawyer.

00:33:04.069 --> 00:33:07.303
I did look him up so he's done big cases in the past.

00:33:07.303 --> 00:33:09.089
But that quote right there, that's a killer.

00:33:09.089 --> 00:33:10.836
That is a killer quote.

00:33:10.836 --> 00:33:12.916
You don't say we're going to do something weeks from now.

00:33:12.916 --> 00:33:21.089
But he had also said and he had said this to News Nation that the lawsuit is completely false and when the proof comes out, everyone will see the truth.

00:33:21.089 --> 00:33:32.049
And he added further you know, numbers don't lie, paper trails don't lie, and when the proper time comes and we present the truth, I think we'll be evident to everyone of what's going on here.

00:33:32.049 --> 00:33:34.069
Okay, face value.

00:33:34.069 --> 00:33:37.089
You can look at them and think, oh, okay, wow, they have the proof.

00:33:37.089 --> 00:33:38.836
Okay, so that proof is going to come out.

00:33:39.109 --> 00:33:47.089
But if you start thinking about weakness and bullying and manipulation, what did the twoies not have at this moment?

00:33:47.089 --> 00:33:54.089
They did not have time and they did not have access to what Michael Ores was really after here.

00:33:54.089 --> 00:33:55.936
They had to get their ducks in a row.

00:33:55.936 --> 00:33:58.089
They didn't know how much money they made.

00:33:58.089 --> 00:34:00.069
This movie came out years ago.

00:34:00.069 --> 00:34:01.949
They couldn't pull that off the top of their head.

00:34:01.949 --> 00:34:13.041
And the reason why is because the twoies have made so much money, not from just the restaurant businesses but also capitalizing on the fame of the blind side.

00:34:13.041 --> 00:34:14.835
Now are they making a ton of money?

00:34:14.835 --> 00:34:15.577
We don't know.

00:34:15.577 --> 00:34:24.206
But we know that Leanne Tooie is a keynote speaker and keynote speakers make a lot of money, and somebody did send me how much money she was making and I couldn't find it.

00:34:24.206 --> 00:34:25.090
It was in my DM somewhere.

00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:33.563
But on her site, her leandtuiecom, she sells merch and her merch, like her t-shirts.

00:34:33.563 --> 00:34:35.594
Families don't have to match.

00:34:35.594 --> 00:34:40.956
You can get that in white, you can get that in black and you can also get it in a long sleeve forest green.

00:34:40.956 --> 00:34:43.983
You can also get their turnaround book.

00:34:43.983 --> 00:34:46.277
You can get their turnaround journal.

00:34:46.277 --> 00:34:50.532
You can get their book in a heartbeat, the Leanne and Sean Tuie story.

00:34:50.532 --> 00:34:59.438
You can get Making it Happen, the Tuie Family Foundation, the Foundation Ornament, which is really hideous looking, but maybe a kid did it, I don't know.

00:34:59.438 --> 00:35:03.135
You can get the turnaround wristband for $5.

00:35:03.135 --> 00:35:07.105
You can get a unicorn bubble wand for $30.

00:35:07.105 --> 00:35:09.451
Now I know these aren't big price points.

00:35:09.451 --> 00:35:12.717
But what this is is a machine.

00:35:12.717 --> 00:35:16.523
It's like an online digital machine that is happening here.

00:35:16.523 --> 00:35:24.344
They're selling, they're leveraging, they're making money off of what the story is all about.

00:35:24.889 --> 00:35:40.652
What we don't really know, and what a lot of people probably have not noticed, is that if you go back and look at their social media, if you go to Leanne Tuie's website and you look at the photos, you're going to notice there are not a lot of photos of Michael Orr with the family, with the Tuies.

00:35:40.652 --> 00:35:43.726
The last time they were together was when he was in the Super Bowl with the Ravens.

00:35:43.726 --> 00:35:52.438
But on social media you might see photos of SJ wishing Michael Orr a happy birthday, and it's a photo of Michael Orr, but they're not together.

00:35:52.438 --> 00:35:53.561
He's just using it.

00:35:53.561 --> 00:36:07.842
So the lawyer did admit that the family has been estranged from Michael Orr for 10 years, and I think that is what is really the root of the problem here, and this is what I think is happening Now.

00:36:08.244 --> 00:36:13.583
It may sound as if like even for my TikToks in this podcast episode, that I'm against the Tuies.

00:36:13.583 --> 00:36:14.425
I'm not.

00:36:14.425 --> 00:36:30.469
I'm not saying that they've done anything illegal per se at all, but I think it's very reasonable to assume that the reason why Michael Orr filed this petition at this time is he was probably facing money concerns.

00:36:30.469 --> 00:36:31.313
I'll leave it at that.

00:36:31.313 --> 00:36:33.445
We don't know if he doesn't have money, he could have money.

00:36:33.445 --> 00:36:34.731
But let's just say he.

00:36:34.891 --> 00:36:36.900
It's likely he started looking at his money.

00:36:36.900 --> 00:36:44.592
The fact that he has a book it's you know, when people think about books that you have to promote yes, you're going to time books that you have to promote.

00:36:44.592 --> 00:37:02.820
But perhaps the reason why he wrote another book and had a ghost writer on that book I believe I'm so sorry I don't know that off top of my head, but I know on a previous book he did have a ghost writer Perhaps the reason why is because he was looking at the money that he had and he realized he didn't have money coming in.

00:37:02.820 --> 00:37:10.661
He's retired, he's a retired NFL player and there wasn't a lot of money there and so part of writing a book was probably a way to get money.

00:37:10.661 --> 00:37:19.786
And while he was writing that book he started looking into the money or having accountants look into the money and say, well, wait a minute, michael, where'd all your money go?

00:37:19.786 --> 00:37:22.786
And that's when they start looking and they start digging.

00:37:22.786 --> 00:37:23.728
They start digging deeper.

00:37:23.728 --> 00:37:25.331
But speaking of digging deeper.

00:37:25.467 --> 00:37:33.695
What I think deeper happening here is that Michael, who is coming from if portrayed in the movie, you know he had a rough childhood.

00:37:33.695 --> 00:37:38.972
He had a difficult relationship with his mother, with his family.

00:37:38.972 --> 00:37:41.456
He was a kid in search of a family.

00:37:41.456 --> 00:37:46.679
There's a lot of damage that happens when people grow up in those years.

00:37:46.679 --> 00:37:48.625
That's where the damage sets in.

00:37:48.625 --> 00:37:53.056
People like that can become abusers or they can become victims of abuse.

00:37:53.056 --> 00:37:55.922
They can become very trusting of people.

00:37:55.922 --> 00:37:59.655
They see people and they, they trust them face value.

00:38:00.094 --> 00:38:07.922
My personal opinion, what happened is I think the twoies in doing the right thing, that they probably looked to him.

00:38:07.922 --> 00:38:20.282
I know some people wrote and said, oh, how easy would it be to to bring in a very tall kid athletic kid, of course, to adopt him, because you know he's going to be a D one athlete and have potential to go to NFL and ride that fame.

00:38:20.282 --> 00:38:23.521
All right, maybe we don't know, but they did bring them in.

00:38:23.521 --> 00:38:28.768
I mean, they certainly did do that and they took care of them and they housed them and clothe them and all of those things.

00:38:28.768 --> 00:38:31.577
But with this conservatism he thought that he was adopted.

00:38:31.577 --> 00:38:33.483
I know there's in his books.

00:38:33.483 --> 00:38:37.219
He stated in some books that he knew that it was.

00:38:37.219 --> 00:38:41.016
He referred to it as a legal conservatism and sometimes he said I was like family.

00:38:41.016 --> 00:38:44.391
So that's a little blurred there, but it's safe to assume that maybe he didn't know.

00:38:44.391 --> 00:38:49.313
You know, when you're 17 years old, 18 years old, you don't know what it means by legally.

00:38:49.313 --> 00:38:53.731
You know the twoies very well could have wordsmith their way around it to make him believe.

00:38:53.731 --> 00:39:00.833
Maybe they didn't outright lie, but certainly made him believe that he was family, instead of saying Michael, you're like family, it's Michael, your family.

00:39:00.833 --> 00:39:03.498

255: The Real Blind Side: The PR Battle Behind Michael Oher's Lawsuit Against the Tuohys

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