Matthew McConaughey Doesn't Want Washington Redskins Name to Change, But Imagines It Will Anyway

"I love the emblem. I dig it," the actor tells GQ's November 2014 issue

By Zach Johnson Oct 23, 2014 1:00 PMTags
Matthew McConaughey, GQPeggy Sirota/GQ

Matthew McConaughey is a lifelong Washington Redskins fan for two reasons.

"First: 4 years old, watching Westerns, I always rooted for the Indians," he says in GQ's November 2014 issue. "Second, my favorite food was hamburgers. The Redskins had a linebacker named Chris Hanburger."

"When you're 4 years old, that's all it takes," he adds. "I got a Redskins hat in my bag right now."

The debate over whether the team's name and logo are racist and should be changed has been going on for decades. Although team owner Daniel Snyder has vowed that he will never rename the football team, how does McConaughey feel about the controversy? "Man, it's twofold," the Interstellar star explains. "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.'"

Peggy Sirota/GQ

If the name and logo were to go, it wouldn't "hurt" McConaughey. "It's just... I love the emblem. I dig it. It gives me a little fire and some oomph," the Academy Award-winning Dallas Buyers Club actor, 44, says. "But now that it's in the court of public opinion, it's going to change. I wish it wouldn't, but it will."

Here's how the internet reacted to McConaughey's views:

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