Terrence Howard Rejected Marvin Gaye Biopic Because He Didn’t Want to Kiss a Man

Terrence Howard, the Oscar-nominated actor who as soon as claimed that one occasions one equals two, has discovered any other factor he can’t compute: kissing a person onscreen.

Speaking to Bill Maher at the host’s Club Random podcast, Howard mentioned that the “biggest mistake” of his occupation was once turning down the lead position in a possible Smokey Robinson biopic, one thing he did as a result of he was once already in talks with Empire cocreator Lee Daniels about enjoying any other musician.

That can be “Sexual Healing” and “What’s Going On” singer Marvin Gaye. Though Gaye had directly relationships—he married two times prior to his dying at age 44—he’s additionally confronted hypothesis about his sexuality. “I was over at Quincy Jones’s house,” Howard informed Maher, “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.’” (In a 2018 interview with Vulture, Jones alleged that Gaye was once certainly one of a number of well-known males who slept with Marlon Brando: “He’d fuck anything. Anything! He’d fuck a mailbox. James Baldwin. Richard Pryor. Marvin Gaye.”)

Once Howard discovered this knowledge, he may not entertain the theory of following via with the venture. “They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” mentioned the actor.

Maher then mentioned, “You mean you couldn’t kiss a guy onscreen in a movie?” Howard spoke back, “No, because I don’t fake it. That would fuck me. I’d cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off.”

Howard maintained that he bowed out of the venture as a result of he knew he wouldn’t be capable of totally “play that character 100%—I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand.”

The actor’s feedback echoed arguable remarks that he made at the PBD Podcast previous this month. “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,” mentioned the Iron Man celebrity. “I don’t do that shit because the man card means everything.”

There were more than one tried Marvin Gaye biopics over time, involving stars like Lenny Kravitz and Law & Order’s Jesse L. Martin, in addition to Straight Outta Compton filmmaker F. Gary Gray. Vanity Fair has reached out to reps for Daniels for touch upon Howard’s model of occasions.

Elsewhere at the podcast, Howard published that he was once on board with Donald Trump till the president performed mass deportations—within the actual approach Trump mentioned he would whilst operating for reelection. “I was all in his corner,” Howard mentioned. But “that right there, that hit me. I was like, Dude, you can’t do that to somebody’s family. You cannot do that. Bring them home.”

Maher, who has won complaint from figures corresponding to Larry David for praising Trump as “gracious and measured” after visiting with the president overdue closing month, agreed with Howard’s stance. “You just can’t send American citizens…right to a prison, and not just a prison—a gulag,” Maher mentioned.

Want extra off-the-cuff remarks from Howard? You’re in good fortune. The actor not too long ago informed TMZ that he plans to release his personal Hollywood-centered podcast, which he described as a “studio’s nightmare and every actor’s wet dream.”