Terrence Howard Reveals Why He Turned Down Playing Marvin Gaye in Biopic: ‘I Would Cut My Lips Off’
Terrence Howard says he turned down portraying Marvin Gaye for a very personal reason.
The 56-year-old actor said that he was once in the talks to depict the legendary singer in a biopic directed by Lee Daniels, but backed out after Quincy Jones told him that Marvin was gay.
“They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that. 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,” Terrence said while on Bill Maher‘s “Club Random” podcast.
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The Empire star insisted that his aversion to depicting a gay man was not due to bigotry, but rather the commitment to stay truthful to his craft.
“It does not make me homophobic to not want to kiss a man. I can’t play that character 100 percent. I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand,” he added.
The biopic from Lee Daniels, who is also a co-creator of Empire, never ended up getting made.
Last year, Lee talked about why getting involved in Empire was a negative experience for him.
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