Terrence Howard Turned Down Marvin Gaye Role Because It Involved Kissing A Man: 'I Would Cut My Lips Off'

Academy Award-nominated actor Terrence Howard revealed a line he'd never cross in acting — and it involves kissing another man.

During an interview with Bill Maher, Terrence Howard, who most would recognize from "Empire," said he once turned down the chance to play Marvin Gaye in a film when he learned he would've had to kiss another man.

On an episode of Maher's "Club Random" show, Howard opened up about the "biggest mistake" he's ever made in his career.

He explained that he had a chance to play Smokey Robinson; however, he passed on the role because he was having conversations with Lee Daniels about playing Gaye in a film.

Howard went on to say that when he was getting into the specifics of the role, he took a step back after learning he would've had to kiss a man on camera.

"You know what happened with that? I was over at Quincy Jones' house ... I'm asking Quincy, 'I'm hearing rumors that Marvin was gay,'" Howard said. "And I'm like, 'Was he gay?' And Quincy is like, 'Yes.'"

From there, Howard decided he "could not" accept the role.

Before his unfortunate passing, Gaye was married to two women during his life and was not openly gay.

Despite that, there was a strong chance his rumored homosexuality would've been explored in the production.

"They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that,” Howard said.

"You mean you couldn’t kiss a guy on screen in a movie?" Maher asked, to which Howard replied, "No. Because I don’t fake it."

But that's not all Howard had to say. He continued, "That would f-ck me. I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off."

After sharing his rather extreme statement, Howard, 56, explained that he wouldn't be able to accept the Gaye role because he wouldn't be able to give his full self to the part.

"I can't play that character 100 percent," the actor said. "I can't surrender myself to a place that I don't understand."

After his statements were shared online, many people voiced their opinions on the matter.

"I couldn't imagine voluntarily enslaving myself to something so trivial," a user said in response to Howard's boundary.

Another user also chimed in, blasting Howard for speaking negatively about the queer community, while a third user seemed confused why Howard was in the running for the role in the first place.

"Who in their right minds would cast Terrence Howard to play Marvin Gaye?! WHO?!"

During his time on another podcast, Howard claimed Diddy once tried to have sex with him after the latter allegedly invited Howard over to help him with his acting skills.

According to him, when he arrived at Diddy's location, the rapper didn't have anything prepared to work on. In fact, he allegedly sat there, just "looking" at Howard.

Later, Howard's assistant told him that he believed Diddy was "trying to f-ck" him, causing the former to create distance between them.

“Now you know to be hands-off with somebody,” Howard said, adding he's had that interaction with several producers in the past whom he's threatened "to punch" or "knock their head off."

He continued: “When you approach a real man about his masculinity, you’re going to get a real reaction back."

Howard, who has starred in other productions like "All My Children" and "Flight Night," continued, “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. I don’t do that sh-t because the man card means everything," he said.

Howard's accusation came 10 years after reports surfaced that Diddy banned his children from starring on his show "Empire."

"Diddy kicked up a huge stink and called all the top brass at 20th Century Fox TV to get them to change their rules over music rights,” a source said. “He said there was no way his son was signing over his intellectual property. So he banned him from the show.”