Not today, coach! Quinton Aaron — the actor who played former NFL player Michael Oher in The Blind Side — is blasting “internet trolls” who are calling for The Academy to revoke Sandra Bullock‘s Oscar amid the Tuohy family’s messy controversy.
The Blind Side is based on the life story of Oher — who was in and out of foster homes as a teen until the Tuohy family took him under their wing and helped him redirect his life’s trajectory. In the 2009 movie, Bullock plays the family’s strong-willed matriarch Leigh Anne Tuohy — a role that awarded her the 2010 Oscar for Best Actress.
Earlier this week, the real-life Oher filed a petition claiming the Tuohys never actually adopted him and instead duped him into signing a conservatorship document that they have used to “enrich themselves” at his expense.
Since the news broke, some social media users have been calling for Bullock to return her Oscar. However, Aaron — who worked closely with the actress while filming the movie — is not standing for such “hate being spread around nowadays.”
“There’s nothing that says she had anything to do with this,” he told Fox News Digital yesterday (Aug. 16). “She was an actress who got hired to do a job, and she did it so well that she was rewarded for it. Why would you take that reward just because of what’s going on today, 14 years later?”
He continued, “I wish they would just leave her alone because, you know, she’s going through her own things right now, you know with the love she just lost. You know, she suffered a great loss.”
Bullock’s longtime partner, Bryan Randall, died earlier this month at the age of 57 following a three-year battle with ALS.
“I’m far too familiar with the tragedy of losing a loved one, and it’s no easy feat. … My thoughts and prayers go out to her as well,” Aaron said. “And the last thing she needs is for the internet trolls to be coming at her talking about something, ‘We should take her Oscar.’ Like just — go sit down. Go. Stay home, sit down, get a job. You know what I mean? Just stop, leave her alone.”
He added, “I’m a teddy bear, I like to think of myself as a teddy bear, but if you mess with the people I love, I will become a grizzly bear, just saying.”
In a separate interview with Entertainment Tonight, Aaron commented on Oher’s scathing allegations. While he said that he “didn’t get the sense” that the Tuohys were the “types of people to do something like that,” he also admitted to being a “very trusting person.”
“It’s very unfortunate because I like both of them. Everyone who is a fan of The Blind Side is rooting for that family,” he told the outlet. “It’s been such a beacon of hope, I can’t even tell you how many people came to me to tell me how it changed their lives.”
Despite having a hard time wrapping his head around the controversy, he said he’s “praying” for Oher, who went on to play in the NFL until his 2016 retirement.
“I definitely want to say, in spite of everything in the past, I’m praying for you, bro,” Aaron said. “I hope that what has happened doesn’t diminish everything that you worked for. I hope you get resolve out of this and be made whole. I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. If you want to reach out I’m here for you bro, I don’t have much to offer, but I can listen… I’m here for you.”
Sean Tuohy, who is played by Tim McGraw in the movie, recently revealed that he is “devastated” by Oher’s “insulting” accusations. The family’s lawyer — who previously claimed that Oher threatened to plant negative stories about them in the press if they didn’t pay him $15 million — told reporters on Wednesday (Aug. 16) that the Tuohys are seeking to end the conservatorship.