Source: Kevin Winter / Getty
playing Quentin in
The Best Man movies, and his soapy turn as Lucious Lyon in
Empire. But there’s one major role he could have played that he turned down.
On Bill Maher’s
Club Random podcast, Howard revealed that he met with Smokey Robinson to discuss playing him in a movie. He says he told Robinson that at the time, he was already committed to playing troubled superstar
Marvin Gaye in a biopic directed by
Empire creator Lee Daniels. But Howard says that he ultimately turned down the role as it would have delved into Gaye’s rumored gay relationships.
According to Howard, “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?’ And Quincy’s like, ‘Yes.’”
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He added, “They would’ve wanted to do that, and I wouldn’t have been able to do that. I don’t fake it. That would f-ck me. I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off.”
The 56-year-old says that he’s not “homophobic,” it’s just that he doesn’t want to play a role so far from who he is. (His words.) “I can’t play that character 100%,” Howard said. “I can’t surrender myself to a place that I don’t understand.”
Gaye was married twice and has two children. No one has come forward after his death to confirm a same-sex relationship, except Jones, who alluded to it in an instantly
controversial 2018 Vulture interview, where he also said a major celebrity faked his own death, that he knew who killed JFK and that he once scored drugs from Malcolm X before he became the Nation of Islam leader.
It’s unclear if the Daniels-helmed biopic was ever an official project.
Law & Order star Jesse L. Martin was once supposed to play Gaye in a movie about his life, but the project fizzled. Gaye’s three children, Nona, Frankie and Marvin Jr. own the rights to his estate and music and its unknown if any other active projects are being done on the late legend.
Gaye was shot and killed by his father, Marvin Gay, Sr. (his son added the “e” for his professional name) on April 1, 1984, a day before his 45th birthday. It’s believed that the strained father/son relationship had worsened over the years, despite Gaye moving in with his parents. The senior Gay shot his son at close range after an argument.
See how social media is reacting to Howard turning down the role below.
