Gay director Lee Daniels was set to make a biopic of Marvin Gaye, a legendary singer who was rumored to be gay.

So what part of that biopic didn’t actor Terence Howard understand? The gay part, apparently.

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He said that the gossip blogger speculated about his sexuality publicly well before he had said anything in an interview.

Appearing on Bill Maher‘s Club Random podcast recently, the Empire star said the “biggest mistake” of his career was turning down the chance to portray Smokey Robinson in another biopic, which the musician himself asked him to play.

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Howard explained he turned Robinson down because he was already in “conversation with Lee Daniels about playing Marvin Gaye.”

Maher said he thought that was fortuitous because Gaye’s life story was “much more interesting.”

“You would’ve been perfect as Marvin Gaye, and that is a story that needs to be told,” Maher told Howard between tokes — smoking weed with guests is part of Maher’s podcast schtick.

But there was more to Howard’s story.

“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 asked Q. “And Quincy’s like, ‘Yes.’”

That was a deal-breaker for Howard.

“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.

 “No,” Howard replied. “Because I don’t fake it.”

“That would f**k me,” Howard told Maher. “I would cut my lips off. If I kissed some man, I would cut my lips off.”