Actor Terrence Howard turned down the chance to play Marvin Gaye as a result of he simply couldn’t dwell with having to do a same-sex smooch.
Throughout Sunday’s episode of Invoice Maher‘s “Club Random” podcast, the “Empire” actor revealed that he was considering playing the Motown legend in a Lee Daniels project before he said he learned the “Sexual Healing” singer was attracted to men.
While Gaye dated and married many women during his life, his sexuality was also the subject of speculation over the years.
It was during a dinner with producer Quincy Jones that Howard learned more about the “Let’s Get It On” singer’s personal life.
Aaron J. Thornton / Getty Photographs
“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?’” he recalled. “And Quincy’s like, ‘Yes.’”
Taking part in a homosexual man was a dealbreaker for the “Hustle and Flow” actor, who advised the podcast host that he “could not” take the function after Jones’ revelation.
“They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” Howard mentioned of getting bodily with one other man.
“You mean you couldn’t kiss a guy on screen in a movie?” Maher clarified.
“No. Because I don’t fake it,” the actor replied.
Whereas Maher advised Howard he felt equally, the actor went one step additional, saying, “That would fuck me. I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off.”

Christian Rose / Getty Photographs
However the star maintained that there was nothing bigoted about his stance, telling Maher, “It does not make me homophobic to not want to kiss a man.”
Relatively, Howard mentioned it was about with the ability to perceive the place his character was coming from.
“I can’t play that character 100%,” he defined. “I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand.”
The “Iron Man” actor mentioned one thing related throughout an look on the “PBD Podcast” earlier this month, telling host Patrick Guess-David, “I’ve lost businesses because I don’t bend over in that way. 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.”