Terrence Howard admitted that he passed on playing Marvin Gaye because if he had to kiss a male costar he would “cut my lips off.”
During a recent appearance on the Club Random podcast, Howard told host Bill Maher about the “biggest mistake” he ever made in his career. The actor recounted how he was invited to dinner by Smokey Robinson because “he wanted me to play his life” in a movie. Unfortunately Howard had to turn Robinson down because he was in a conversation with Lee Daniels about playing Marvin Gaye in another biopic.
Maher responded, “You would’ve been perfect as Marvin Gaye, and that is a story that needs to be told.” However, Howard confirmed he ended up in neither project. He ended up turning down the role of Gaye once he learned how the singer’s sexuality would be explored in the film.
“I was over at Quincy Jones’ house and I’m asking Quincy, ‘I’m hearing rumors that Marvin was gay’ and I’m like, ‘Was he gay?,’” Howard recalled. “And Quincy’s like, ‘Yes.’” Ultimately, Howard decided he “could not” play the singer.
“They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” Howard told Maher of portraying a gay relationship. He explained that he couldn’t kiss a man onscreen because “I don’t fake it.”
He continued, “That would fuck me. I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off.”
Howard explained that “it does not make me homophobic to not want to kiss a man.” He added that it’s about being able to represent something accurately onscreen. “I can’t play that character 100 percent,” Howard said. “I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand.”
Howard most recently appeared in Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, a Peacock miniseries that aired last year. He is best known for portraying Lucious Lyon on Empire, which was co-created by Daniels, and for his Oscar-nominated role in Hustle & Flow. The actor shared similar sentiments on the PBD Podcast, saying he had turned down gay roles because he didn’t want to lose his “man card.”
“I’ve lost businesses because I don’t bend over in that way,” he said. “I don’t compromise. I don’t play gay roles. I don’t kiss a man. I don’t do that shit because the man card means everything.”
