Whoopi Goldberg Saves 'The View' After Matthew McConaughey and Joy Behar's "Awkward" Exchange

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The View audience experienced some truly interesting moments while watching Matthew McConaughey promote his new children's book, Just Because.

The actor appeared on a September 12 taping of the show to discuss his project with Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, Sunny Hostin and Alyssa Farah Griffin.

The conversation went fine enough... until they played a 2006 clip that shows Matthew giving Joy a foot massage. After showing it, Joy put her foot on the table, and to everyone's surprise, Matthew obliged in rubbing her foot. After a minute or so, Whoopi put an end to it by saying, "we're just going to let all of that go by," which prompted Joy to say "thank you," and move on.

However, the discussion turned much more serious after the actor shared why he started a new initiative for his Just Keep Living Foundation. The Greenlights Grant Initiative works by connecting schools with grant writers so they can get money from the government to create safer learning conditions. It began after Matthew and his wife got involved with school safety in the wake of the horrific shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which is Matthew's hometown.

"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 intimating, so they don't have the expertise or the time," Matthew revealed. "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."

After seeing and learn more about Matthew's commitment, many have suggested he run for political office. When Sunny brought up the topic, Matthew made it clear that it's not out of the question, but right now, he's focusing on fatherhood. But when Joy asked him if he thought he could become an elected official in his home state of Texas while being in support of gun control laws, things took a turn.

"One thing about me and politics is — to give you a direct statement right there?" Matthew said while pointing at her. "It's playing a game that I'm not interested in playing." That led Joy to hold up her hand and say, "Okay, don't do it." You can see it at the 10:06 mark:

As Whoopi witnessed Matthew and Joy's exchange play out, she decided to quickly turn to the audience and lighten the mood by revealing a surprise.

"I have to tell you, everybody in this audience," she announced as Matthew looked on. "Just so you know, everybody’s going home with a copy of the book."

Some viewers left in the comments that they felt the exchange was "awkward" even though Whoopi managed to shift the conversation so swiftly.

Sunny also shared during the second segment what she believed Matthew's stance was, to which he replied "fact."

If you want to learn more about Matthew's initiative, go to GreenLightsGrantInitative.org. For more on gun safety, visit Everytown.org.

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