An old video where The Blind Side author Michael Lewis jokes about former NFL star Michael Oher’s college grades went viral amid the ongoing drama involving the Tuohy family.
Sixteen years ago, Lewis once joked about Oher’s college grades during an interview with Google. At the time, the best-selling author was interviewed at the company’s headquarters in California on September 11, 2007. He was asked about how Oher was faring academically at Ole Miss.
“Google him now, he’s on the dean’s list at Ole Miss, which says a lot about the dean’s list at Ole Miss,” Lewis said, causing the audience to erupt into laughter. “There are schools like Ole Miss, and Ole Miss isn’t even the best example, they seem mainly to exist to sustain a football team. And then they take these kids, many of whom are from the underclass — poor black kids from ghettos around America — and let them into the school. … And then they make a track for them inside the school — and the track is not designed for them to get an education or even to engage with the school outside the football team.”
He said that “all the poor black kids are majoring in criminal justice.” However, he touted Oher for being “engaged” in his studies and for wanting to embark on a journalism career post-playing football.
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Lewis has recently said he feels “sad” for the former athlete after Oher sued his adoptive, accusing them of allegedly tricking him into signing over the legal authority to use his name in business deals after he turned 18. The former Baltimore Ravens player said that he was duped out of millions of dollars due to the conservatorship. Oher petitioned a Tennessee probate court earlier this week, claiming that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy – his adoptive parents – never officially adopted him.
Lewis’ 2006 book, The Blind Side, was eventually turned into the award-winning 2009 movie with the same name starring Sandra Bullock.
