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Matthew McConaughey breaks down his infamous 1999 'naked bongo' arrest in shocking detail

Home> Celebrity> News

Updated 11:42 24 Oct 2025 GMT+1Published 11:35 24 Oct 2025 GMT+1

Matthew McConaughey breaks down his infamous 1999 'naked bongo' arrest in shocking detail

Matthew McConaughey isn't too hung up about the odd arrest

Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard Kaonga

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Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Pantalones Organic Tequila

Topics: News, US News, Celebrity

Gerrard Kaonga
Gerrard Kaonga

Gerrard is a Journalist at UNILAD and has dived headfirst into covering everything from breaking global stories to trending entertainment news. He has a bachelors in English Literature from Brunel University and has written across a number of different national and international publications. Most notably the Financial Times, Daily Express, Evening Standard and Newsweek.

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Matthew McConaughey has released an advert as a tribute to a bizarre arrest that took place at his home where police stumbled upon him naked and playing drums.

Matthew McConaughey is a pretty recognizable and beloved face in Hollywood and is pretty much universally adored.

But with that said, the 55-year-old actor has had his run ins with the law and it was bizarre, if nothing else.

The incident on October 25 1999 saw McConaughey visited by the police after his neighbors were seemingly annoyed with the loud music coming from his home at 2.30 a.m.

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When authorities entered his home, they found the star, naked and playing the bongo drums...

He was subsequently arrested and booked into the Travis County Jail at 3 a.m. on suspicion of 'possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting transportation.'

The star released the ad to mark the 25th anniversary of his weird run in with the police(Matthew McConaughey/Instagram)
The star released the ad to mark the 25th anniversary of his weird run in with the police(Matthew McConaughey/Instagram)

In a recent post on his Instagram page, McConaughey issued a tribute of sorts to this incident with an advert for his Pantalones Organic Tequila brand,

In the video, his wife, Camila Alves, reads from the police report of his arrest.

She says: “On the 25th day of October...”

McConaughey then interrupted to finish her sentence, saying 'at 2:36 in the am', all the while playing the bongos, thankfully clothed this time.

His wife continued: “On arrival to the location, I could easily hear very loud music, dancing and playing bongo drums.

“The nude subject yelled: 'Why are you here? You can’t be in here', glassy and very bloodshot eyes.”

Alves laughed saying she could see the image so clearly, with McConaughey playfully replying that it has happened 45 times since.

Amazingly, this isn’t the first time the star has opened up about the incident.

In fact, the actor has playfully broken down what happened in his 2020 memoir Greenlights and created an even more vivid picture.

In the book, he explained that before being arrested, he had actually been partying for 32 hours and wanted to blow off some more steam at home.

He explained: "It was time to smoke a bowl and listen to the beautiful African melodic beats of Henri Dikongué play through my home speaker.

“It was time to stand over my drum set and follow the rhythm of the blues before they got to Memphis, on my favorite Afro-Cuban drum. It was time for a jam session.

“What I didn't know was that while I was banging away in my bliss, two Austin policemen also thought it was time to barge into my house unannounced, wrestle me to the ground with nightsticks, handcuff me and pin me to the floor.”

McConaughey even explained how he got his ‘resisting transportation’ charge by going into detail of how he half-planned an elaborate acrobatic escape after being handcuffed.

In the book, he added: “My rationale at the time was that after pulling off such an extraordinary Houdini-like stunt, the officers would be so impressed that they would abrogate the arrest and set me free. I know, stupid, but remember, I'd been celebrating for 32 and a half hours straight."

It didn’t end up playing out like that but the actor didn’t end up in all that much trouble.

He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charges and was fined $50 for the whole thing. Alright, alright.

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