In a November issue interview with GQ magazine Academy Award winning actor Matthew McConaughey managed to cave-in on two hottbutton issues (gun rights and the Redskins name change) all at once.
When the Dallas Buyers Club star and longtime Redskins fan was asked about political pressure to change the name he said he wanted to keep it but thought it was inevitable that it would be changed and then compared the issue to the gun rights debate: “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.”
The following is an excerpt from the interview with McConaughey in the November issue of GQ:
What do you think about the calls for the team to change its name?
Man, it’s twofold. 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.”
