Billie Holiday spent much of her career being adored by fans. In the 1940s, the government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial ballad, "Strange Fruit."

Andra Day
as Billie Holiday

Trevante Rhodes
as Jimmy Fletcher

Garrett Hedlund
as Harry Anslinger

Leslie Jordan
as Reginald Lord Devine

Miss Lawrence
as Miss Freddy

Adriane Lenox
as Mrs. Fletcher

Natasha Lyonne
as Tallulah Bankhead

Rob Morgan
as Louis McKay

Da'Vine Joy Randolph
as Roslyn

Evan Ross
as Agent Williams
Manuel São Bento
If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @ https://www.msbreviews.com Even though I love listening to jazz, I've never been to a concert or a club specific to this type of music. Following this train of thought, I didn't know anything about Billie Holiday's real-life s...
Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots
Jazz musician Billie Holiday is a legend; one of the greatest musicians of all time. Most music fans can name their favorite Holiday tune, but none caused more controversy than her song about black lynching, “Strange Fruit.” Screenwriter Suzan-Lori Parks builds her story (based on the novel by Johan...
tmdb28039023
In a scene from The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Billie (Andra Day) is about to sing “Strange Fruit” in concert, which Harry J. Anslinger (Garrett Hedlund), the first commissioner of the US Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics, had forbidden her to do. Behind the audience is a row ...