Actor Terrence Howard revealed that he refused to portray Marvin Gaye in potential film because of the Motown singer’s rumored homosexuality, saying he’d cut his lips off if he ever kissed a man.
The former “Empire” star made the confession during a nearly two-hour appearance on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast. Howard told Maher he turned town a chance to play Smokey Robinson because he was in talks with director Lee Daniels for a possible biopic of Gaye.
“You know what happened with that? I was over at Quincy Jones’ house … I’m asking Quincy, ‘I’m hearing rumors that Marvin was gay,'” Howard said. “And I’m like, ‘Was he gay?’ And Quincy is like, ‘Yes.'”
Daniels, who was an executive producer on “Empire,” has not made a film or television series about Gaye’s life and it’s unclear when Howard had these conversations. Jones, a celebrated music producer, died in November last year.
Gaye was married to two women during his life and was not openly queer.
Howard went on to say that the filmmakers would have wanted to explore Gaye’s rumored homosexuality and that he could not kiss a man.
“I would cut my lips off,” Howard said. “If I kissed a man, I would cut my lips off.”
Howard attributed it to him not being able to “fake it” and he could not act a role he did not understand. Maher told Howard he would not want to a kiss a man either, but “I would not do that” in reference to Howard’s self-mutilation comment.
“It does not make me homophobic to not want to kiss a man,” Maher said, comparing it to gay men who would not be interested in women sexually.
The comment received some backlash online, with some calling Howard “deeply problematic” and others urging people to stop interviewing Howard. One X user questioned how many times Howard was going to tell the world “he is uncomfortable with his masculinity.”
“He performs masculinity for the approval and acceptance of cishet men and despises gay men,” the user wrote. “We know already.”
Another brought up Howard’s history with domestic abuse following allegations made by two of his former wives. The user wrote, given the allegations, “I’m having a hard time believing he likes women.”
The actor admitted in a 2015 Rolling Stone interview that he hit his ex-wife Lori McCommas in 2001.
Michelle Ghent, Howard’s second wife, accused him of assaulting her in a lawsuit that she later dropped. Howard told Rolling Stone that Ghent was attempting to pepper spray him and he was trying to bat her away.
