The View moderator Whoopi Goldberg expertly pivoted after a brief but tense moment between her co-host Joy Behar and actor Matthew McConaughey, who appeared on the show to promote his new children's book, Just Because.
The interview was initially a lighthearted one. At one point, McConaughey rubbed Behar's foot after the hosts shared a video clip from 2006 showing McConaughey giving Behar a foot massage.
After Behar cautioned McConaughey "not so hard, not so hard," Whoopi jumped in with her first tactful pivot of the interview:
"We're just gonna let all that go by."
The tone of the interview shifted a bit when McConaughey discussed his Just Keep Living Foundation's new initiative, the Greenlights Grant Initiative.
This program aims to connect schools with grant writers, facilitating their access to government funding to improve safety conditions in schools. The initiative was born out of McConaughey's involvement in school safety following last year's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in his hometown of Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 students and two teachers.
McConaughey explained the program's purpose as follows:
"We found out these superintendents have to fill out these grants — a lot of them are also driving the school bus, they're the PE teacher and this grant is 50 pages and intimidating, so they don't have the expertise or the time."
"So we're helping with the grant wiring process. We hire grant writers to come on and go to these schools throughout the United States that need the safest schools the most — we're helping them write the grant."
McConaughey's commitment to the cause has prompted some political observers to suggest he should run for office in his home state and when the topic arose, McConaughey didn't rule it out but emphasized his focus on fatherhood at the moment.
When Behar asked him about the feasibility of running for office in Texas while supporting gun control, the actor ironically gave a very political answer.
"One thing about me and politics is — to give you a direct statement right there? It's playing a game that I'm not interested in playing."
McConaughey's response appeared to annoy Behar, who held up her hand to cut him off and said:
"Okay, don't do it."
You can watch what happened in the video below.
Matthew McConaughey Shares His Passion For Fatherhood & Debuts New Children's Book | The Viewyoutu.be
At that point, Goldberg took matters into her own hands and shifted the conversation's tone by revealing a surprise for the audience—copies of McConaughey's book:
"I have to tell you, everybody in this audience. Just so you know, everybody’s going home with a copy of the book."
People had much to say about the moment.
McConaughey also told The View about how the idea for his book came to him in a dream.
The actor has said he dreams "in song and rhythm," saying the idea for Just Because "was like a folk-song ditty" that he immediately had to wake up and write down in the middle of the night.
