Matthew McConaughey surprises Kentucky residents with free turkeys

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I’m not usually a proponent of rushing the holidays (I heard Christmas music at the mall over the weekend and nearly went apoplectic), but I will give a pass to Matthew McConaughey spreading a little early Thanksgiving cheer. On Saturday, the actor celebrated his 48th birthday by helping to hand out 4,500 free frozen turkeys to the people of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky.

Matthew started off his charitable morning at the Wild Turkey Distillery. He’s a spokesperson for the bourbon and has been since 2016. That’s a match made in marketing heaven, if you ask me. In a Facebook Live video, Matthew surprised volunteers with an impromptu inspirational speech, telling them, “Thanksgiving, gratitude, we believe in our family that the more you’re thankful for, the more that you show gratification, the more that you’re gonna create in your life to be thankful for. I think it’s kinda scientific and here’s kind of living proof of it right here this morning.” He added, “Let’s go make some people happy and put some smiles on some faces, deliver some turkeys, there’s some people that are gonna be happy to get ’em. Just keep livin’, thanks for being here.” (Just Keep Livin’ is Matthew’s charitable foundation, so nice plug there. He also thanked Butterball, who donated the turkeys.)

And they were off, sharing joy, and tasty turkey, with the fine folks of Lawrenceberg. Matthew posted a video of a visit to a house filled with rabid McConaughey fans, who squealed in delight at the sight of the Oscar-winning actor at their doorstep. When Matthew asked who he was chatting with, the ladies announced that they were “hot mamas.” Matthew asked, “Hot mamas?” and then joked, “That’s my nickname for my wife. I can’t call ya’ll that.” Matthew was game, taking oodles of photos with the ladies and, when one asked if he brought along any drinkable turkey with the edible one, he responded, “No, I did not bring Wild Turkey” and then kidded, “There’s a Wild Turkey hidden inside the turkey.” Bourbon-infused turkey could actually make my Thanksgiving tolerable. Make this happen, McConaughey.

I think this is pretty cool. Matthew has always struck me as a good guy, and the people of Lawrenceburg sure appreciated his being there – check out the photos that hit Instagram on Saturday. Say what you will, he’s one of the good guys.

When volunteering has a slight benefit… #wildturkeygivesback

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Happy Birthday, Matthew!! 😍 #fangirl #wildturkeygivesback #wildturkey #mcconaughey

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Photos: WENN.com, Getty Images

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17 Responses to “Matthew McConaughey surprises Kentucky residents with free turkeys”

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  1. Enough Already says:

    Alright, alright, alright!

  2. Radley says:

    Appreciate a little good, happy, normal, news. Feels like that never happens anymore. It’s been a helluva year.

  3. Shijel says:

    I’m broke, I wish someone surprised me with a free turkey. God I could go for some free turkey now I’m sick of eating potatoes, potatoes and potatoes.

  4. Maggie says:

    It would have been better if he visited neighborhoods where homes didn’t have three nice cars parked in the driveway. But I suppose the thinking was that if you really could use a free turkey then you can’t afford Wild Turkey so why waste Mathew’ s advertising time.

  5. slowsnow says:

    I am so confused.
    Why is is he giving away turkeys? (By the way, best headline ever).

  6. Snowflake says:

    Wonder how much he got paid to do that? He seems like a nice guy, but I’m sure he got paid. In the first video, you can see two guys fist bumping each other. One of them is probably the CEO who arranged it

  7. BB Carrots says:

    Is it just me or is anyone else very wary of any feel good stories right now involving actors?

    Like, we’ll call MM one of the good ones this week and then next week an actress will come forward saying he was lewd and groped her during a party while filming Dazed and Confused.

    I am just so exhausted by the horror right now that I don’t trust anyone and I’m certainly not going to say anyone in Hollywood is “one of the good ones.”

  8. Nicegirl says:

    This made me smile thank you

  9. Lorelai says:

    Can anyone with a larger computer screen than my phone (and better eyes!) tell where his navy jacket is from? I love it and want to get one like it for my husband, but I can’t read what it says on the button.

  10. Lisa says:

    Curious as to why he picked this town… thought they went through some kind of weather devastation.