Joy Behar and Matthew McConaughey got into a furious fight on The View after the co-host questioned the actor’s “anti-gun” attitude.
On Tuesday, September 12, the 53-year-old Texas native made an appearance on the US chat show in order to promote Just Because, his debut children’s book.
After discussing the relevance of the book to McConaughey as a father of three, co-host Sunny Hostin changed the subject and complimented him for being “so outspoken against violence, and gun violence in particular”
You considered a candidacy for Texas governor in 2021, but you eventually made the decision to prioritize your family. Do you think you’ll occupy public office in the future? Hostin asked.
“Yeah, if that’s where I believe I can be most helpful,” the actor from Interstellar said. “I want to be the most supportive father I can be right now.”
“Do you think you could get elected in Texas as an anti-gun person?” Behar asked again.
“One thing about me and politics is me playing a game I’m not interested in playing right there,” McConaughey lashed back, pointing a finger at Behar.
Behar responded, “All right, don’t do that.”
Matthew McConaughey and Joy Behar on “The View” (The View / YouTube)
McConaughey’s hometown of Uvalde, Texas, was the site of a horrific mass shooting in June 2022. The actor pleaded with his fellow residents to “renegotiate our wants from our needs.”
We have to rearrange our values and find common ground above this devastating American reality that has tragically become our children’s issue,” he said in an Instagram post at the time. We can all agree that we can manage this plague and perform better, regardless of our political viewpoint. We need to do better.
Since then, McConaughey and his spouse Camila Alves have launched the Greenlights Grant Initiative, whose objectives are to “raise awareness about school safety grants,” “ensure continuous and more equitable federal funding for school safety,” and “equip school districts with resources and tools for successful applications,” according to the initiative’s website.
The actor’s children claim that he had the inspiration for Just Because, a collection of “life lessons that empowers readers, big and small, to celebrate how we are all full of possibility.”