Terrence Howard has claimed that he was once asked to play Marvin Gaye in a biopic but turned the role down because Quincy Jones informed him that Gaye was a homosexual man.
During a recent appearance on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, he expressed his regret at turning down a Smokey Robinson biopic after having a conversation with Lee Daniels about playing Gaye.
“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?’… And Quincy’s like, ‘Yes,”” he told Maher.
He said he would not have been able to play a gay man in a movie, and Maher pressed further.
“You mean you couldn’t kiss a guy on screen in a movie?” Maher asked.
Howard responded, “No. Because I don’t fake it. That would f–k me. I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off,” he continued.
Howard insisted that not wanting to kiss a man does not make him homophobic.
“I can’t play that character 100 percent,” Howard added. “I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand.”