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DJ McConaughey's kind of got a ring to it, especially when it's being used for a good cause.
In a showcase of Texan solidarity, Austin gem and celebrity Matthew McConaughey has cooked up an all-star lineup of "Texas talent" for his virtual benefit, "We're Texas," to help pay for damages caused by Winter Storm Uri.
The event will be hosted on Saturday by McConaughey and his wife, Camila. It's the only time you'll find McConaughey DJ'ing an event with Texans like George Strait, Megan Thee Stallion and Joe Rogan all side-by-side in attendance.
All proceeds will go to McConaughey's just keep livin foundation as part of its Texas Relief Fund. The fund will provide support for charities including the Austin Disaster Relief Network, Meals on Wheels Central Texas, Salvation Army of Texas, Save the Children, St. Bernard Project and Team Rubicon.
Alongside Strait, country legends Willie Nelson, Randy Rogers, Gary Clark Jr., Lyle Lovett and Miranda Lambert will perform, while music's next generation will be showcased with performances by Kacey Musgraves, Leon Bridges and Parker McCollum. The event is set to please any music taste and will hold additional performances from Kelly Clarkson, Khalid, Kirk Franklin, Lukas Nelson, Post Malone and Don Henley.
Here's some other native Texans and transfers set to make an appearance:
- Angie Harmon
- Chip & Joanna Gaines
- Clayton Kershaw
- Dak Prescott
- Dr. Phil McGraw
- Jamie Foxx
- Jennifer Garner
- the Jonas Brothers
- Marcus Lemonis
- Renée Zellweger
- Selena Gomez
- Troy Aikman
- Woody Harrelson
In a statement, McConaughey said he hopes the event will work to "restore Texas" after the weeklong freeze that left many without power or water for days.
"A lot of Texans are hurting right now," McConaughey said. "After the disaster of the worst freeze here in over 70 years, so many are still without clean water and unable to repair water damage that has made their homes unlivable. One of my favorite things about Texans is that we like to help ourselves, and while that spirit is still alive and well, a lot of Texans can't help themselves right now unless we help them."
Austin brands sponsoring the event include Dell, ACL Live at The Moody Theater, Austin FC and Bumble. Other Texan sponsorships include Reliant Energy, H-E-B and Dallas sports teams including the Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers.
McConaughey first announced the event in what looked like a politian's message, complete with an American flag background, in a video on the Monday after the storm.
The Feb. 22 announcement may have been foreshadowing: McConaughey has made headlines recently for saying he's seriously considering running for governor of Texas.
Whether governor-to-be or just an Austin icon, McConaughey will use his platform to help his fellow Texans. The "We're Texas" event begins at 7 p.m. on Saturday. Those interested in watching or donating can log in at Youtube.com/MatthewMcConaughey or visit jklivinFoundation.org to donate before and after.
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Former UT tennis coach Michael Center told Sports Illustrated he thinks others were involved in the Varsity Blues scandal at UT.
His name dragged through the mud, Center was fired, arrested by the FBI and sentenced to six months in a Central Texas federal prison after pleading guilty to two charges related to mail fraud. And over a year after his release, Center told Sports Illustrated he doubts he was the only one in burnt orange involved.
When the Varsity Blues scandal broke out to the public in 2019, the investigation was a perfect storm for nationwide attention: Hollywood glamour, blue blood conspiracy and faith in the tried-and-true American education system came to a head as 33 movie stars and other elites were found guilty of paying more than $25 million to pave their children’s way into eight colleges, including the University of Texas.
UT was one of eight schools caught in the college admissions scandal. (Laura Figi/Austonia)
Singer's client, private equity executive Chris Schaepe, was looking for a way to bend UT's tight admissions policies for his son, who was seeking a position oddly as a manager on UT’s basketball team. Through a middleman, Singer contacted Center, who eventually agreed.
Schaepe's son hadn't played tennis since his freshman year of high school. It was a detail that Center says passed through plenty of hands before he was admitted, including "academic support staff, the compliance office, the sports supervisor and, ultimately, the athletic director," SI's Jon Wertheim writes.
No one in the entire athletic department, including seven "risk management and compliant services department" employees, was named, implicated or punished. After an internal investigation, Center was the only one named in the Varsity Blues "subterfuge" in a September 2019 UT news release signed by the university president.
He told Austonia he was never contacted by the university during the investigation, and when the NCAA interviewed him for its investigation, he says it cleared him of any violations.
“I almost fell out of my chair,” Center said. “I literally couldn’t breathe. There’s no college coach in America—much less at a state school, much less a coach of a nonrevenue sport—who can admit an athlete without consulting other people in the athletic department. What they were asking people to believe, it’s just impossible.” SI said Center's assertion was backed by multiple UT coaches and administrators at other schools.
But why would the Forty Acres be complicit?
(Matthew/Adobe)
Center said UT’s then newly named athletic director Steve Patterson made clear that Center suddenly was responsible for more than building a successful tennis program. He was to be a "fundraiser first and coach second" and he would need to find donors to fund a new tennis facility. Patterson admitted to SI that he wanted his coaches to find donors and said the department was "$15 million in the red" when he started in 2013, though he denies any knowledge of the false tennis recruitment.
Center said he knew he would be "considered a team player" if he let in the son of a Silicon Valley magnate. And sure enough, Schaepe immediately began pulling out his wallet, donating $100,000 to UT tennis and a six-figure check to the school's communication program.
"I never entered this as a way to profit. This was a fundraising mission where I made a terrible mistake at the end,"
Center said.
Months after Schaepe's son was admitted, Center agreed to meet Singer at the Austin airport and found himself accepting a backpack filled with $60,000 in cash meant for him, personally. He said he immediately knew he had made a mistake. He told SI “I put the money in my basement and gave most of it away.”
“Why did I do it?” Center told Sports Illustrated. "I go to bed and wake up each day asking myself the same question. I had to convince myself that I somehow deserved the money."
Once in court, Center showed texts with UT's compliance official and mentioned Chris Plonsky, a department executive involved in "overseeing men’s tennis, compliance, academic support (which generates letters of intent) and the Longhorn Foundation," according to SI.
“I knew I had to answer for my guilt,” Center said. “But I was like, 'Man, schools are going to get hammered.'"'
But Center was the only Longhorn to go down for the crimes. “I was no rogue actor,” Center said. “And this wasn’t my word against their word. There were signatures that went along with it. That’s the system... There wasn’t one point in the process where I thought people wanted to learn the whole truth.”
Back at home in Austin, Center watched as actress Felicity Huffman served just eleven days for her part in the scandal. Some served up to five months; others simply paid a fine, and others, like Singer, await sentencing.
And because the prosecution chose to blame individual coaches, framing schools as victims in the case, universities like UT have received less than a slap on the wrist for their possible involvement.
“I was always taught that actions have consequences,” Center said. “What I’ve come to realize is that, yes, for some people actions absolutely do have consequences. Serious, heavy ones. For others, actions can have no consequences at all.”
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