Terrence Howard Rejects Marvin Gaye Biopic Because He Doesn’t Want to Kiss Man for Role: ‘I’d Cut My Lips Off’

Terrence Howard recently revealed why he turned down a significant opportunity to portray Marvin Gaye in a biopic. The 56-year-old admitted he doesn't want to kiss a man for a role because he can't fake it. 

Speaking candidly to Club Random podcast host Bill Maher, Howard revealed that he was offered to play Smokey Robinson in his biopic, but he said "no" to the role because he was already in talks with Lee Daniels to portray Marvin Gaye.

However, when he got to know that the biopic's director wants to explore questions around the late singer's sexuality and he might have to kiss a man on the screen, he immediately declined the project.

"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?'" Howard recalled. "And Quincy’s like, 'Yes.'"

When Maher asked him why he couldn't kiss a man on screen for a movie, Howard replied that he cannot fake it. "That would f*ck me. I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off," he said.

He also clarified that he is not homophobic, but he also doesn't want to do injustice to a role and play someone he doesn't understand.

Gaye never openly spoke about his sexuality during his lifetime; however, rumors often swirled that he was romantically linked to men. The two-time Grammy winner was married to Anna Gordy for 10 years and to Janis Hunter for five years.

In 2018, Quincy Jones told Vulture that Gaye once dated Hollywood star Marlon Brando. "Brando used to go cha-cha dancing with us. He could dance his a*s off. He was the most charming motherf**ker you ever met," Jones said. "He’d f*ck anything. Anything! He’d f*ck a mailbox. James Baldwin. Richard Pryor. Marvin Gaye."

Coming to Howard's filmography, he made his film debut in a minor role in Who's the Man? (1993). He later received an Academy Award nomination for the Best Actor category for Hustle & Flow (2005). He played the role of Rhodey in Iron Man (2008).

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