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Michael Ealy Turned Down Beyoncé To Star In This Iconic Music Video

He had a good reason, though.

Typically, what Beyoncé wants, Beyoncé gets. But apparently, that wasn’t the case with actor Michael Ealy, who had the audacity to say no to Queen Bey when summoned to appear in her music video.

While promoting his new film, The Intruder, on Busy Tonight, Ealy revealed that he was first tapped to star in the visual for Bey's iconic breakup anthem, "Irreplaceable," but politely declined.

"I said no originally," he said. "I said no to 'Irreplaceable.'"

Um, why?

Well, Ealy had a pretty logical reason for passing on the golden opportunity.

"I didn't want to be the guy who she said, 'To the left, to the left' to," he explained as the audience burst into laughter. "Who wants to be that guy? It's like the worst thing ever."

Luckily, he got another chance to work even more intimately with Yoncé in a setting that didn't call for her to scowl at him, take after take.

"Then they called back again when they did 'Halo,' and I was like, 'Let me hear the song,'" he said. "I heard the song and I was like, 'I can do that, for sure.'"

Giving some exclusive tea on what it's like to work so closely with the music icon — their faces were literally separated by an inch of space in the video, for God's sake — Ealy shared one tidbit that many likely didn't know about the shoot.

"It's as amazing as people think it is," he said of filming the angelic visual. "And she sings to you. She would lip sync, and every now and again I [would] hear her actually sing, and I would be like, 'Oh my gosh! Focus! Act, Michael. Act!'"

Watch the actor gush about working with Queen Bey, below:

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