Actor Terrence Howard may have an Oscar nomination for his no holds barred approach to roles, but it turns out there is a limit to what he'll do onscreen, and kissing a man is beyond that limit.
Howard told Bill Maher that he turned down the role of a lifetime, playing legendary musician Marvin Gaye in a biopic by director Lee Daniels, once he learned of Gaye's sexuality.
Gaye dated and was married to women in his life, but his sexuality was the subject of much speculation over the years.
And when Howard learned at a dinner meeting with Quincy Jones that Gaye had had relationships with men, he told Maher that was a deal-breaker—which he expressed in frankly insane terms.
Howard was apparently so uncomfortable with the notion of having to kiss a man onscreen, he wouldn't even say the phrase to Maher, telling the host:
“They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that."
Maher had to fill in the blanks for him:
“You mean you couldn’t kiss a guy on screen in a movie?”
Howard then explained himself in bizarrely violent terms.
“No. Because I don’t fake it..."
"...That would fu*k me. I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off.”
Uhhh okay... You good, Terrence?
But don't worry—Howard insists he's not homophobic. He went on to tell Maher:
“It does not make me homophobic to not want to kiss a man.”
As you might guess, people online were not exactly convinced by Howard's explanation.
The real problem with the role, Howard went on to say, is that he wouldn't be able to play a gay character because he wouldn't be able to identify with one.
“I can’t play that character 100%. I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand.”
Okay then, Mr. Howard.
