The College Fix

This is no April Fool’s joke: It was confirmed in January and the juicy details came out yesterday in the Houston Chronicle.

Actor Matthew McConaughey will get paid $135,000 to speak at the University of Houston’s first universitywide commencement “in recent memory,” but it took the Chronicle more than a month to get that basic information out of the school.

It ended up in front of the attorney general:

Initially, when asked how much it had to spend to lure the well-known [University of Texas-Austin] Longhorn, UH – a public institution funded by tax and tuition dollars – demurred, citing a rare confidentiality clause in its agreement with the booking agency it hired to find a celebrity speaker. The school had to give the agency, Celebrity Talent International, a chance to resist disclosure.

Celebrity Talent filed a brief opposing a freedom of information act request submitted by the Chronicle.

The agency argued that if UH tells the public how much it plans to pay McConaughey, a “reporter or someone” might create “unfair negatives online.”

But all that changed on Tuesday. Though the attorney general has yet to rule on the case, the university revealed McConaughey’s fee and said it plans to cover his travel costs.

The school will also pay Celebrity Talent International, the booking agency that arranged the speaking gig – and argued UH should stay silent on the details – $20,250, or 15 percent of his fee, for booking the actor.

“The University has concluded its business with CTI and, therefore, is no longer bound by its confidentiality agreement with the agency,” the university said in a statement.

The school is paying McConaughey with revenue from its continuing education program, and the actor will give the money to his jk livin Foundation, a charity for high school students, the Chronicle said.

Well, alright alright.

Read the story.

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IMAGE: Claudette Barius/AP