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Is ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’ Based on a True Story?

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If ever there were a musician who deserved more than one biopic, surely it is Billie Holiday. The jazz singer got the biopic treatment first …
If ever there were a musician who deserved more than one biopic, surely it is Billie Holiday. The jazz singer got the biopic treatment first in 1972 with Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross in a traditional cradle-to-grave overview of the life of “Lady Day,” as she was often known. Now, with a few more decades of perspective, another Billie Holiday biopic has hit the scene: The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, which began streaming on Hulu on Friday. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Lee Daniels—with a script by Suzan-Lori Parks, based on the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari—this new film focuses not on an overview of Holiday’s life, but on the way, the U.S. government targeted and harassed her, both for her drug use and for her controversial song, “Strange Fruit.” This time, singer Andra Day steps into the shoes of Lady Day, while Moonlight star Trevante Rhodes takes on the role of Jimmy Fletcher, a man who helped the government bring down Holiday. It’s a complicated story that can’t truly be covered in a two-hour film, much less in a short article on the internet, but here’s a brief overview of The United States Vs. Billie Holiday true story. Yes. The United States Vs.

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