The following podcast contains explicit language.

Hello, I'm Dana Stevens, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, Queen of Shade Edition.

It's Wednesday, March 20th, 2019, and on today's show, The Inventor is a new HBO documentary directed by Alex Gibney that profiles Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos scandal. It's one of several competing properties now profiting on the story of this Silicon Valley fraud. Why is this resonating right now we will discuss? Then we return to RuPaul's drag race. We last covered the show in 2012,

back when it was a low-rated curiosity. Now it's a world-conquering phenomenon. What should we

make of drag-going mainstream? And finally, we will talk about brands, social media, and marketing.

When Netflix tells us it's so sorry that it canceled one day at a time, should we believe it?

Stephen and Julia are both out this

week, but I am joined in the room by the co-author of The World Only Spins Forward and the host of

Slates, lend me your ears podcast, Mr. Isaac Butler. Hello, Dana. You're becoming such a friend of the

program, a fop, that you need your own special fop acronym. You've really been a pinch hitter lately, so thank you.

Well, it's always a pleasure to be here.

And in a unique crossover event, we have brought over from the other side of the glass, our producer, Benjamin Frisch, as our third discussant this week. Hey, Benjamin. Hi, Dana. I'm very happy to be on this side of the glass. I feel like you've done Slate Plus segments before, but I don't think you've ever been a full on third on the show.

This is my first time I'm co-hosting, yeah.

First is a third. Yeah. First time, long time. It's great to have you here.

All right. We have a lot to talk about this week. So let's dive right into the show. With one drop of

blood, Elizabeth Holmes promised to revolutionize medicine. Her company, Theranos, promised

it could deliver hundreds of blood tests from one tiny sample run through a miniature

testing lab the size of an office printer, nicknamed Edison, which promised to be placed in

hospitals, pharmacies, and even on battlefields to provide low-cost, accurate, and fast blood test

results. Theranos recruited top talent from Silicon Valley, former cabinet members,

and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment capital, and made Elizabeth Holmes a billionaire,

but then it all fell apart. The inventor is a documentary from HBO and the director, Alex Gibney.

...