Terrence Howard has a lot on his mind

September 17, 2015 7:55 PM

Rolling Stone reporter Erik Hedegaard interviewed Terrence Howard about Empire and ... well, it's hard to explain.
posted by trillian (28 comments total)

I love this show and it seems one of the best showcases for new talent. And not just new talent. Something about the editing was a bit off but there are schedules and music just don't jump out the box, Ya know, get the wiggle going.

"We're about show a new truth. The universal math."

And I always thought that was Motown.
posted by clavdivs at 8:11 PM on September 17, 2015

He beats women, and is not particularly apologetic about it.

Fuck this guy.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:12 PM on September 17, 2015 [19 favorites]

Don Cheadle's a better War Machine, Actor, and Human being.
posted by leotrotsky at 8:15 PM on September 17, 2015 [33 favorites]

Has Mr. Howard not yet heard of nature's harmonic simultaneous 4-day time cube?
posted by chimaera at 8:17 PM on September 17, 2015 [16 favorites]

So he's playing this "evil genius" music mogul... the genius part proves he's an excellent actor, the evil part - too easy.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:20 PM on September 17, 2015

I enjoyed reading this article, but I get the same uneasy twinge about it that I get about articles revolving around "gosh, look how shitty this Third World country is!" A very personal, narrow-gauge sort of disaster porn, focusing on the damage a (usually high-profile) person has taken and is giving to those around them, not for any broader purpose but just to say, hey, look at how fucked up this is.
posted by AdamCSnider at 8:29 PM on September 17, 2015 [3 favorites]

"And the mirror continues to reflect, as does Howard."

#rollingstone
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 8:32 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

He had a theory. It might seem crazy, it may even be crazy, but a long time ago he'd gotten hold of this notion that one times one doesn't equal one, but two. He began writing down his logic, in a language of his own devising that he calls Terryology. He wrote forward and backward, with both his right and left hands, sometimes using symbols he made up that look foreign, if not alien, to keep his ideas secret until they could be patented. In 2013, he got married again, to an L.A. restaurateur named Mira Pak, and the two would spend up to 17 hours a day cutting shapes out of the plastic and joining them together into various objects meant to demonstrate not only his one-times-one theory but many others as well.

k
posted by turbid dahlia at 8:37 PM on September 17, 2015 [15 favorites]

He was fantastic in Hustle and Flow. Good actor, seriously troubled dude.
posted by echocollate at 8:38 PM on September 17, 2015 [5 favorites]

You know, for a guy who--at three--watched his dad stab a man to death in front of Santa, he's way more stable and successful than I would've expected.
posted by Anonymous at 8:56 PM on September 17, 2015

1 x 1 = 2
posted by shakespeherian at 8:59 PM on September 17, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeahhhh, I think Don Cheadle should keep on being War Machine as long as he feels like putting on the suit.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:17 PM on September 17, 2015 [4 favorites]

the two would spend up to 17 hours a day cutting shapes out of the plastic and joining them together into various objects meant to demonstrate not only his one-times-one theory but many others as well.

Nobody tell him about the Banach–Tarski paradox
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:17 PM on September 17, 2015 [8 favorites]

I would legit be scared of getting stuck in an elevator with Terrence Howard.

He's a good actor, but I cannot imagine dating a man like him. Everything in his life is so EXTRA.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 10:07 PM on September 17, 2015

i was really hoping empire would follow through on the plot to kill him.
posted by nadawi at 10:49 PM on September 17, 2015 [6 favorites]

I know he says his new wife is his soulmate and this marriage is working for him (eyeroll)... but I'm pretty worried for her. Violent men who change are rare, especially the ones who justify their physically assaulting their past partners.
posted by discopolo at 2:52 AM on September 18, 2015 [6 favorites]

discopolo, Howard & Pak divorced shortly after the interview, according to this Mary Sue article: Terrence Howard is a Living Example of Toxic Masculinity.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:27 AM on September 18, 2015 [5 favorites]

Reminds me of Tracy Letts' Bug.
posted by Sticherbeast at 4:40 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

Terrance Howard is a pretty good actor--I remember when I saw Hustle & Flow in the theatre and was impressed by everyone's performance--but a horrible person in the way he treats women. Just some of the stuff I've read astounds me but then I get sad because it shouldn't astound me as there are a ton of abused women out there that don't happen to be married to a high profile actor.
posted by Kitteh at 6:17 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

You know, for a guy who--at three--watched his dad stab a man to death in front of Santa, he's way more stable and successful than I would've expected.

Plenty have endured worse, and they don't beat their wives and assault strangers.
posted by Beholder at 6:19 AM on September 18, 2015 [8 favorites]

I'm trying to envision the bizarre levels of psychosis that might arise if Howard were to ever hook up with Randy Quaid's wife.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:41 AM on September 18, 2015

Every time I hear Terrence Howard mentioned, I think of the whole baby wipes and women-are-unclean craziness from a few years ago...
posted by trillian at 7:07 AM on September 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

This makes me sad, that the guy is so messed up and doesn't see it and everyone is just like, "wow! That's craaazy!" When it should be some kind of compassionate intervention.
But no, we'll just gawk at the train wreck.
posted by From Bklyn at 8:28 AM on September 18, 2015 [3 favorites]

"I like women who look like me. Generally, you're attracted to women who look like you, because the most beautiful thing in nature is your own reflection."

Welp.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:29 AM on September 18, 2015 [2 favorites]

"Every time I hear Terrence Howard mentioned, I think of the whole baby wipes and women-are-unclean craziness from a few years ago..."

Ha! That's also what I recall when I think if him. Weird dude.
posted by Phreesh at 10:43 AM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

"One times one equals two because the square root of four is two, so what's the square root of two? Should be one, but we're told it's two, and that cannot be."

Uhm, Terrence, the square root of 2? Yeah, it's not 2.
posted by I-baLL at 2:19 PM on September 18, 2015

What about slapping children? Legal in all 50 states.
http://time.com/3379862/child-abuse/

Where do you draw the line between culturally acceptable punishment and violence?

Sean Connery is a good example of this old school bullshit.

http://youtu.be/mzXkbJwrN38

I loved my father but he was abusive sometimes, physically to me (I'm male) and my mother. I don't consider him a horrible person. I'm not condoning violence towards women or children, I'm just pointing out that the issue is complex as violence plays out generation after generation. Howard's dad probably beat the shit out of him. Doesn't justify violence, but it provides context.

Me, I'm a passivit. I vowed to hold to that in my life. Part of it is that I am afraid of that part of myself that understands violence, and I will always see the violence in the world because of what I have experienced.

My sister knocked out two of teeth once (she 8 years older than me I was a kid). I understood that her violence was not a transgression of love because the real horror of violence is that it just becomes part of life.

I was lucky because I made those vows. Come to think of it, it is one of the reasons I will not have children because of what I experienced. The monstrous thing is what violence puts inside of you, it becomes part of you.

But I am so lucky because I am capable of seeing violence through eyes of a helpless child and I will never ever forget what that felt like. I wanted power. I wanted to fight back. I wanted violence then. I understand that real power is understanding an impulse and making a choice as a human being and not giving into it.

The intimacy of violence is a terrible Garden of Eden of which I am cast out forever. I get happier every day of my life, because every day I choose goodness and decency and love.

No, I don't hate Terrence Howard for beating women. I hate violence itself and what it does to all of us. It divides us with fear and mistrust. I've learned to trust people and yes, trust that violence is a capacity we all have. Trust me, if pushed far enough only a mind disciplined like steel will not respond in kind.

Can you accept that violence and war and the related fears are seared into all our minds in some form. No, it's not good guys versus bad guys. It's survival instincts playing out in a way that is definitely not in direct conflict with the goals and methodologies of civilization itself.

Human history and personal history are never dead, the force of atrocity is alive and every human being alive today stands in the shoulders of violence and struggle. Do you think your hands are clean?

Does blaming Terrence Howard absolve you of anything? No. It's our worst nature. It would be nice to declare that violence is strictly in the domain of the other.
posted by thebestusernameever at 4:33 PM on September 18, 2015 [1 favorite]

No, it's not good guys versus bad guys.

Sometimes it is, and I know which one Terrence Howard is.
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 1:13 PM on September 20, 2015