The Lady of Wrath is revisiting her acting chops for a new biographical role.
The Lady of Fury to portray TV psychic Miss Cleo in the new film
On Tuesday (July 23), the Lifetime network shared the trailer for the upcoming biopic, titled Miss Cleo: Her Rise and Fallwhich features the former Death Row Records rapper portraying the tarot card-reading psychic who offered free calls to IT viewers to read their fortunes in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Miss Cleo, who spoke with a very heavy Jamaican accent, was a native of Los Angeles. And in the film, a relative of Cleo's calls her out for allegedly “mocking” her Jamaican heritage. The biopic also reveals Miss Cleo's illusory success, noting that she was bringing in $24 million at one point for the Psychic Readers Network where she worked. However, it appears in the film that Miss Cleo, born Youree Dell Harris, was unfazed by her problematic dishonesty because it allowed her, a single mother, to pay her bills and take care of her children. Miss Cleo's downfall came when she was investigated by the Federal Trade Commission for fraud, which is also highlighted in the Lifetime movie.
Rage, born Robin Allen, has previously starred in films such as Next Friday, Rideand more recently, Judas and the Black Messiah.
Read more: Death Row Records music catalog returns to streaming services
Miss Cleo and Psychic Readers Network Accused of Fraud
According Newsweekthe plan behind their Psychic Readers Network involved offering a free reading to customers who called their toll-free line, but the customers were then directed to a 900 number and charged $4.99 per minute. The Washington Post noted that about 6 million people who made calls were charged an average of $60.
In 2002, the FTC charged the owners of Access Resource Services and Miss Cleo's promoters, Steven Fader and Peter Stotz, with deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices. Miss Cleo was not charged.
Newsweek also reported that Steven Fader and Peter Stotz settled the dispute by writing off the $500 million debt their many callers owed the network and paying $5 million to FDC. Bad checks were also returned to customers.
According The New York TimesMiss Cleo died of cancer on July 26, 2016.
Lifetime Miss Cleo: Her Rise and Fallstarring The Lady of Rage, premieres August 10 at 8 p.m. EST.
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Watch the trailer for the Miss Cleo biopic below.
