Featured Image Credit: Rich Polk/Getty
Topics: Celebrity, Matthew McConaughey, Film and TV
Callum Jones
Topics: Celebrity, Matthew McConaughey, Film and TV
In a clip that has gone viral, Matthew McConaughey ended up correcting an interviewer after he broke an 'unspoken rule'.
As a journalist, the last thing you want to do is mess it up before asking your interviewee the first question, and even though McConaughey was very polite about it, Pedestrian TV editor Matt Galea was left red-faced by the gaff.
Galea was interviewing the actor for the release of the movie Sing 2 back in 2021, and posed questions to the actor following a tricky start.
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As he entered the virtual room, an assistant asked Galea to introduce himself and state what publication he was from before firing off the questions.
The journalist began by saying 'Hi Matt!', which certainly raised an eyebrow from the movie star.
After Galea revealed his publication, McConaughey pointed out he doesn't liked being called 'Matt' and courteously asked the interviewer to refer to him as 'Matthew'.
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Lesson learnt, don't call the Hollywood icon 'Matt', and the awkward moment has left the journalist still lying 'awake at night' four years later.
Galea recently told News.com.au: "I was offered the opportunity to interview Matthew McConaughey for the sequel to ‘Sing’ and I obviously jumped at the chance because he’s such a huge star.
"I also knew that our audience would be super keen on seeing a chat with him. I didn’t really make a conscious choice to address him in a certain way, 'Matt' just slipped out like a reflex, perhaps because it is my name as well and I’m generally happy for people to call me by any version of Matthew.
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"I also think it comes down to a cultural thing. Aussies love to give people nicknames as a way of appearing friendly and familiar, and to break that barrier when you first meet someone."
Galea went on to say he wasn't left offended by the whole interaction and was actually glad McConaughey acted in a authoritative way.
"I thought he was just riffing off the fact that we both had the same name," he added.
"It wasn’t until I watched the footage back during editing that I finally understood what he meant. If I knew he was telling me that his preference was Matthew, I absolutely would have responded with ‘Oh sorry Matthew, no problem!'"
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McConaughey has previously spoken about why he never goes by 'Matt'.
During a 2017 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he explained: "I was in kindergarten... My buddy Josh Griffin says, 'Hey Matt, you want to go play on the monkey bars?' And I ran out and said, 'Yeah!'
"And halfway to the monkey bars, I feel this hand on my shoulder (which) slammed me to the ground.
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"I look up, and it's my mother in my face, and she’s like, 'What are you doing?'"
After McConaughey explained what was going on, his mom replied: "Don't you ever answer to Matt again. I named you Matthew from the Bible."
He added: "I was like, 'Yes, ma'am!'"