Terrence Howard has revealed that he almost starred in a biopic of legendary soul singer Marvin Gaye, but turned it down after he found out the singer was gay (which I don’t even think was public knowledge?).

The Empire star said in new interview with Bill Maher that he passed on the project after he found out about Gaye’s sexuality from another music great, Quincy Jones.

“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 explained. “And Quincy’s like, ‘Yes.’”

Following this discovery, Howard decided he “could not” star in the movie.

“They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” he said of playing a gay man in a movie.

Maher went on to ask, “You mean you couldn’t kiss a guy on screen in a movie?” Howard responded, “No. Because I don’t fake it.”

“That would f*ck me,” Howard added. “I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off.”

“I can’t play that character 100 percent,” he added. “I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand.”

Well, I suppose it’s fair enough that he turned down the role if he doesn’t feel comfortable kissing a man on screen… but cutting your lips off? Seems a bit OTT. Not sure I can remember the last time a Hollywood star was so open about being repulsed by homosexuality. Although I guess Terrence Howard may still be scarred from the time that P Diddy tried to have sex with him (allegedly).

Of course, Terrence Howard is getting all kinds of blowback on this with people accusing him of being homophobic and not understanding the point of ‘acting’. He said in the interview with Maher that he doesn’t “fake it”, although that’s literally what his job is. Maybe he’s the method acting type who would need to literally live as a gay guy 24/7 to prepare for a gay kiss on screen? In which case I can understand his aversion to it.

Either way, he clearly feels very strongly about it to turn down a massive role in the Marvin Gaye biopic. Although it does leave him with more free time to reinvent the periodic table, so I would think he’s very happy with his decision.