The music-themed drama series has been a breakout hit for Fox this season, and has attracted high-profile guest stars like Jennifer Hudson, Rita Ora and Naomi Campbell, reported Access Hollywood.
Howard, 46, revealed that he was reluctant to accept the role of bigoted mogul Lucious Lyon.
"I read the script, and it's got Cookie and Lucious and what the hell is all of this? And my gay son? I didn't think it was going to work," he said.
"I called my assistant and said, 'This is crap. This ain't going to work. How is this going to work? How are they going to shoot this?' Because I thought initially in the very first ten minutes, 12 minutes into the pilot, you've got two black men kissing.