Terrence Howard Refuses To Perform 'Pimp' Song At Oscars'

Saw the following in yesterday's Daily Mirror:

OSCAR hopeful Terrence Howard has refused to sing at the Academy Awards after other black Hollywood stars urged him not to.
Howard, up for Best Actor for his role as a drug dealer in Hustle And Flow, was invited to sing It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp at the ceremony.
But he pulled out after Sidney Poitier, Will Smith and Denzel Washington warned him it could be harmful to black actors.
Rappers Three 6 Mafia will perform a toned down version of the song on Sunday.
Full story:
OSCARS' STAR NO TO SONG

An interesting tale - and quite different from the following story in the Indianapolis Star:

Howard, 36, is nominated for his lead performance as DJay, a Memphis pimp pursuing his hip-hop dreams in Craig Brewer's "Hustle & Flow." And even though he performed "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" in the film, he doesn't think he could do justice to the Oscar-nominated song when it comes to the live telecast.
"We don't have time in the schedule to work all that stuff out," says Howard in an interview at the annual Oscar nominees luncheon on Monday, Feb. 13. "It took me seven months to find DJay and find that voice. I don't think I could give it the full service that I gave it in the film."
Instead, he believes the performance will be left to the Memphis-based trio Three 6 Mafia. Jordan "Juicy J" Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul "DJ Paul" Beauregard wrote the music and lyrics for the song.
More details:
No Oscars 'Pimp' Performance for Howard

How this story went from "not enough time to perform" to "a righteous stand for the black man" is beyond me. But I have one question for Terrence Howard:
If the first story is true and he is upset about the negative message of the song, then why do the movie in the first place?
Could it be a case of "Money talks".......?