Out actor and LGBTQ+ activist Wilson Cruz has taken fellow actor Terrence Howard to task for recent comments suggesting that playing a gay role would make him less of a man.

Earlier this month, Howard was a guest on right-wing podcaster and multilevel marketing company founder Patrick Bet-David’s PBD Podcast. During their conversation, the Empire star rambled about his concept of masculinity.

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“Always be the man in the room,” Howard said. “That’s always been my whole thing, and 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 s**t because the man card means everything.”

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The clip made its way to social media, where Cruz responded in a Threads post claiming that Howard “sure did talk a different talk and act in a different way when it came to working with me in the ’90’s.”

The two actors appeared in supporting roles alongside David Arquette and Lukas Haas in Johns, a 1996 drama about male sex workers. At the time, Cruz claimed, Howard “Loved my work, loved my choices, etc.”

“This fool is out here performing for the WHYTE man, doing and saying what he needs to do to get over,” Cruz wrote. (It’s unclear whether he was referring to Bet-David, who is Iranian-American.) “He is quite literally BENDING OVER and doing what pleases THE MAN and he seems to enjoy it.”

Cruz went on to claim that “no one wants to work with” Howard “due to his ego and lack of work ethic.” While Howard has actually worked steadily in film and TV since the early ’90s, he has also been arrested multiple times for alleged assault. In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, the actor admitted to slapping his first wife in front of their children. His second wife, Michelle Ghent, was granted restraining orders against Howard in 2011 and 2013.

LGBTQ Nation sibling site Queerty reached out to Howard’s representatives, who said in a statement that the actor’s comments “reflect his personal views as an artist.” Howard, they said, “has the right to choose roles that align with his creative instincts and personal boundaries. Just as Wilson Cruz, or any other actor, has the freedom to portray characters they connect with, be they gay, straight, or otherwise… Terrence equally has the right to accept or decline roles in accordance with his own values and vision.”

“We believe the arts should remain a space for freedom of expression, where no one is forced to justify their personal choices or be labeled for them,” Howard’s reps added. “Mr. Howard’s intention was not to offend, but to simply express his personal artistic preference, which is his right, just as it is for others to express theirs.”

After Queerty posted a link to the story on Threads, Cruz responded in a comment, clarifying that he does not “give a flying f**k if a straight actor plays a Gay role.” Instead, he wrote, what he took issue with was Howard’s suggestion that “playing a Gay role makes you less than a man.”

“Being a man has nothing to do with where you put your d**k and much more about where you DON’T put your hands. It’s about how you use your strength to protect, to build, to stand for what is right and just, for you, your family, your community,” Cruz wrote. “Worry less about your manhood and worry more about MANKIND. BE A MAN.”

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