Art imitating life? That’s the question when we compare Terrence Howard’s father to “Lucious Lyon.” Terrence did an impeccable job with his portrayal of “Empire’s” head honcho, “Lucious Lyon.” However, after hearing him detail what happened on the tragic day he watched his father murder a man right in front of him, we may have just learned where he’s pulling his character’s inspiration from.

TERRENCE HOWARD: “I WAS STANDING NEXT TO MY FATHER WATCHING”

The eery connection between “Lucious” and Terrence Howard’s real father back in the day- he was a loving father, a prideful man, but don’t test him because another side will surface. The year was 1971 and Terrence stood by with his pregnant mother as they painfully watched his dad, Tyrone Howard, kill a man…a tragedy that became sensationalized nationwide in the media at that time.

THE MURDER HOWARD’S DAD COMMITTED: ‘THE SANTA LINE SLAYING’

In a Rolling Stone interview, Terrence detailed what happened on the day his father, Tyrone Howard (pictured above in handcuffs soon after the murder), committed what the national media famously dubbed as ‘The Santa Line Slaying’:

Via DailyMail: Tyrone [Howard], his pregnant wife Anita, and their three children were waiting to see Santa Claus at [a] department store in Cleveland when an argument began between Tyrone and another man in line with his family, Jack Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick and others claimed Tyrone had been cutting the line with his family and made a comment to the man. […] Eyewitnesses all said that Fitzpatrick at one point pinned Tyrone to the wall and began kneeing him in the groin. Tyrone at that point pulled out a nail file and stabbed the man to death.

“I was standing next to my father, watching,” [Terrence] Howard recalls. “Then stuff happened so quickly — blood was on the coats, on our jackets — and then my dad’s on a table, and then my dad is gone to prison.”

Tyrone…was charged with second-degree murder in what became known around the country as ‘The Santa Line Slaying.’ He was found guilty of manslaughter after pleading self-defense and was sentenced to 11 months in prison.

When Tyrone was released, Terrence’s mom divorced him, but Terrence said he remained in his life and always taught him the importance of being a man by telling him these words:

“Never take the vertebrae out of your back or the bass out of your throat. I ain’t raisin’ sheep. I raised men. Stay a man.”

TERRENCE HOWARD ALMOST REPEATED DAD’S INCIDENT

In 2005 Terrence Howard got into legal trouble for the EXACT same reason and ended up in legal trouble over it. While standing in restaurant line, Terrence had an altercation with a man and his wife- he knocked down the husband and allegedly hit the wife:

“She was trying to Mace me,” he says, “and you can’t see anything so all you can do is try to bat somebody away, and I think that something caught her. But I wasn’t trying to hit her,” explains Terrence.

Howard says he wasn’t even in any line. He’d just gone to check out the wait time for a table. The woman accused him of cutting in front of her and one thing led to another, with him acting in self-defense. He pleaded guilty…to disorderly conduct.

Terrence seemingly incorporated what his dad taught him, “Never take the vertebrae out of your back.” Art imitating life.