Matthew McConaughey Hopes the Redskins Don’t Change Their Name

2 minute read
GQ's November 2014 CoverGQ
By Eliana Dockterman

Matthew McConaughey has offered his two cents on the Redskins controversy. In an interview with GQ, the Interstellar actor compared the controversy over the team’s name to the gun control debate. Yes, really:

What interests me is how quickly it got pushed into the social consciousness. We were all fine with it since the 1930s, and all of a sudden we go, “No, gotta change it”? It seems like when the first levee breaks, everybody gets on board. I know a lot of Native Americans don’t have a problem with it, but they’re not going to say, “No, we really want the name.” That’s not how they’re going to use their pulpit. It’s like my feeling about gun control: “I get it. You have the right to have guns. But look, let’s forget that right. Let’s forget the pleasure you get safely on your range, because it’s in the wrong hands in other places.”

Confused? Same here. And why is McConaughey, who hails from Texas, a Redskins fan, anyway? “First, four years old, watching Westerns, I always rooted for the Indians,” McConaughey, who once played a football coach in We Are Marshall, said. “Second, my favorite food was hamburgers. The Redskins had a linebacker named Chris Hanburger.”

The interviewer asked McConaughey if he would be hurt to see the logo gone. “It’s not going to hurt me. It’s just… I love the emblem,” the Oscar winner said. “I dig it. It gives me a little fire and some oomph. But now that it’s in the court of public opinion, it’s going to change. I wish it wouldn’t, but it will.”

Alright. Alright. Alright.

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com