The United States vs. Billie Holiday: Whats Fact vs. Whats Fiction in Lee Daniels New Biopic

book Chasing the Scream, which tells stories from the early days of the war on drugs and those caught up in the fight. The United States vs. Billie Holiday focuses on jazz singer Billie Holiday's (played by Grammy nominee Andra Day) battle with the United States government over her efforts to sing "Strange Fruit," a song about lynchings in the South, and the attempts to suppress her by targeting her for her drug use.

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The United States vs. Billie Holiday is set primarily during the height of Holiday's career, beginning with her performances at clubs around New York City as well as the renowned Café Society. As Holiday's star grows, so does the attention paid to her by Harry Anslinger (played by Garrett Hedlund), the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Throughout the movie, Holiday grapples with the weight of legal troubles, tries to survive the ghosts of her past which contribute to her drug use, engages in a budding romance with the FBI agent tracking her, Jimmy Fletcher (played by Trevante Rhodes), and rises up to become a key figure in the early days of the modern Civil Rights Movement.
'The United States Vs. Billie Holiday' Trailer Reveals Hulu Release Date For Lee Daniels' New Movie
Here, we're going to touch on some of the most notable and central historical events in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. From the war on drugs to Holiday's relationship with "Strange Fruit" to the continued fight to ensure lynching in America is made a criminal act through legislation, we'll separate the fact from fiction to better understand the history at the heart of Daniels' movie.
In the movie: The United States' war on drugs is at the heart of the conflict in The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Anslinger is presented as a particularly nasty brand of General Racist Bureaucrat here, indulging in racism with his white co-workers, railing against the jazz music scene and what he believes to be its corrupting influence, and seeking out every opportunity to arrest Holiday and make an example out of her. Through an initiative led by Anslinger, Holiday's career was frequently interrupted by encounters with the Feds, with attempts to plant drugs on her as a means to get her to stop singing and also put her behind bars for good. Anslinger is also a boogeyman through the movie, popping up as a spectral presence to remind Holiday, as well as viewers, that he is always watching, waiting to strike.
In reality: Anslinger was indeed the head of the Treasury Department's Federal Bureau of Narcotics during the time period covered in this movie. Due to his role, Anslinger was a key figure in the war on drugs. The efforts to criminalize drugs after decades of widespread use both recreationally and medicinally are now recognized to have targeted Black communities. In what might be the most overt rewriting of history, Hedlund is a lot younger than the actual Anslinger at the time this movie takes place. Born in 1892, Anslinger was in his 50s and 60s during the period of time covered in the movie. As for Hedlund, who was born in 1984, he's in his mid-30s in The United States vs. Billie Holiday.
Billie Holiday's History With "Strange Fruit"
In the movie: The United States vs. Billie Holiday plunges us into Holiday's career, skipping over the earliest days as she transitions from little Eleanora Fagan to the singer known as Billie Holiday. Because of this, the movie makes it clear that Holiday has been fighting for some time for the right to sing "Strange Fruit" and retain it as part of her setlist for performances. Holiday is shown singing "Strange Fruit" just a few times in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, too. The first is a thwarted attempt early on in the movie, which leads to her being dragged off the stage by authorities as the crowd protests. Later, Holiday sings the entire song, uninterrupted, as the camera holds on her face in a close-up after Holiday and Fletcher stumble across a scene of lynching while taking a break traveling across the country.

In reality: "Strange Fruit" was recorded by Holiday in 1939 and she first performed it at Café Society that same year. The lyrics of "Strange Fruit" were written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish educator and anti-racist activist, and adapted from a 1937 poem titled "Bitter Fruit." The poem, also written by Meeropol, was published in a teachers union journal. Both the poem and the song are meant to draw attention to the horrors of lynching as it is used to target and kill Black Americans. The song became closely aligned with Holiday during her career as she sought to perform it. Notably, as Holiday continued to perform it, rules from Café Society founder Barney Josephson were apparently developed to ensure that the power of the song was fully transferred onto the audience. Those rules included Holiday performing "Strange Fruit" as the final song of her set and any waiter service stopping before the song began.
The Tumultuous Private Life of Billie Holiday
In the movie: The rollercoaster of Holiday's love life figures prominently into the events of The United States vs. Billie Holiday. This is partially in an attempt to pathologize Holiday's behavior as well as her drug use. The movie presents scenes of Holiday's childhood where her mother, a sex worker, sends young Holiday to work in a neighboring brothel despite the fact that she was an adolescent. The implication here is that Holiday was, from a very young age, set up to fail when it came to finding love and, because of this, her choice in men could be explained as her seeking out what she knows. Over the movie's two-hour runtime, we meet the men who would become Holiday's husbands: first husband James Monroe (Erik LaRay Harvey), the second being Joe Guy (Melvin Gregg), and Louis McKay (Rob Morgan), the third husband. There is also a brief romance with Fletcher (Rhodes) while Holiday is on tour in the late 1940s, with the singer turned the once cold FBI agent into a sympathetic ear as she lets him into her world.

In reality: Holiday did indeed have three husbands: Monroe, Guy, and McKay. Each marriage only lasted a few years. She was still married to McKay at the time of her passing in July 1959 at age 44. Hari's book notes that her marriage to McKay, in particular, was abusive (via Esquire) and that he was roped in by the Feds to arrest Holiday on drug charges. While the depiction of Holiday's married life with each of her husbands is relatively accurate, there is some question of the accuracy of her relationship with Fletcher. In reality, Holiday and Fletcher were close and possibly romantically involved, but no record exists to confirm it. A Harper's Bazaar breakdown of the history behind The United States vs. Billie Holiday reveals Holiday and Fletcher did spend time together and had long conversations. In a rare interview, also via Harper's, Fletcher expresses regret for his role in Holiday's repeated persecution, too.