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."
The United States vs. Billie Holiday is a 2021 American biographical drama film about singer Billie Holiday, Directed by Lee Daniels, the film stars Andra Day in the title role, along with Trevante Rhodes, Garrett Hedlund, Leslie Jordan, Miss Lawrence, Adriane Lenox, Natasha Lyonne, Rob Morgan, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Evan Ross, and Tyler James Williams. The film was partly based on the book Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari.