Terrence Howard has revealed that he turned down the role of Marvin Gaye because the part would have required him to kiss another man.
In an interview on Club Random with Bill Maher, the Razzie Award nominee revealed that the “biggest mistake” of his career was turning down the lead role in a Smokey Robinson biopic, as he had been in talks with director Lee Daniels about portraying Gaye.
Ultimately, Howard walked away from the project after legendary producer Quincy Jones allegedly confirmed to him that Gaye was gay.
“I was over at Quincy Jones’ house and I’m asking Quincy, ‘I’m hearing rumours that Marvin was gay?’ I’m like, ‘Was he gay?’” said Howard. “And Quincy’s like, ‘Yes.’”
After learning of this, Howard, an actor, said he “could not” star in the movie because he would be unable to “fake it”.
“They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” he said. When Maher asked, “You mean you couldn’t kiss a guy on screen in a movie?”, Howard replied: “No, because I don’t fake it. That would f**k me.”
He added: “I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off.”
Despite his problematic comments, Howard claimed that his reluctance to star as Gaye came down to his inability to commit to the character, and that it “does not make me homophobic to not want to kiss a man”.
“I can’t play that character 100 per cent,” the former popular actor said. “I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand.”
This marks the second time in recent weeks that Howard has made dismissive remarks about LGBTQIA+ roles.
Earlier this month, he told Patrick Bet-David on the PBD Podcast that he’s never accepted gay roles because he’d have to give up 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 s**t because the man card means everything.”
Following backlash to his comments, out actor Wilson Cruz called Howard out on Threads: “He sure did talk a different talk and act in a different way when it came to working with me in the 90’s. Loved my work, loved my choices, etc.
“This fool is out here performing for the WHYTE man, doing and saying what he needs to do to get over. He is quite literally BENDING OVER and doing what pleases THE MAN and he seems to enjoy it.”
Cruz continued: “The truth is no one wants to work with his tired a**, anyway, due to his ego and lack of work ethic, so quite literally, Go f*ck yourself. You are the sellout here.”
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