UH to pay McConaughey $135,000; actor will donate money to charity

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Matthew McConaughey's celebrity has certainly drawn a spotlight to the University of Houston - though perhaps not for the reasons the school had hoped.

UH's ability to hook the Academy-Award winning Texan - most closely associated with a certain school in Austin - to deliver its first university-wide commencement in recent memory at a shiny new football stadium was supposed to be a sign of its rising stature. But news coverage soon shifted to UH's silence on the subject of how much McConaughey would make off the speech.

On Tuesday, more than a month after the Houston Chronicle asked that question, UH finally answered it, saying it would pay McConaughey $135,000, which the actor intends to donate to charity.

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Initially, when asked how much it had to spend to lure the well-known 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.

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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.

A UH spokesman was unable to say Tuesday whether, or how much, the university had paid commencement speakers in the past. Its commencements typically have been for individual colleges within the university.

UH will pay McConaughey with revenue generated by its continuing education program, which offers certificate programs, online courses, workshops and more to non-UH students.

McConaughey will give the $135,000 to the jk livin Foundation, a charity he started to "empower high school students by providing them with the tools to lead active lives and make healthy choices for a better future," UH said in the statement.

Universities regularly shell out thousands of dollars to lure big-name speakers.

Students at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas protested after the school announced it planned to pay Hillary Clinton $225,000 to speak at an event last June.

A report by Bloomberg News last year found that California universities paid more than $7.5 million for speeches and performances since 2012, including paying singer Tony Bennett $110,000 and actor William Shatner $75,000.

The University of Texas at Austin, McConaughey's alma mater, doesn't pay commencement speakers, a spokesman said.