4 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 8 March 2022
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Defrauded Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes has become the subject of countless books, podcasts, documentaries, and now the brand new scripted Hulu series, The Dropout, starring Amanda Seyfried. Holmes's cult of personality—everything from her sociopath-chic Steve Jobs cosplay to her roster of Star Wars quotes (delivered in that mysteriously affected low voice) to her tyrannical lying and exploitation—has made her more than just your dime-a-dozen tech bro scammer. How did Holmes cultivate such a cult following among Silicon Valley investors, and now, why are true crime junkies so inordinately obsessed with her case? This week, with the help of listener call-ins, Amanda and Isa unpack the notorious grifter's zealous qualities to determine whether she really was more of a cult leader than a con artist, and if so, was her “cult” a Live Your Life, a Watch Your Back, or a Get the Fuck Out?
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0:00.0 | We talk about a lot of really fun subjects on this podcast, but I do think something we always do is kind of slip into a British accent when we feel uncomfortable. |
0:07.3 | That's so true, babes. |
0:09.8 | And that's what we're gonna do all week when we're in London town. |
0:15.0 | Dude, I am so fucking excited. We're doing our first ever London show on Friday, May 26th at 6.30pm, at the Lester Square Theatre in London. |
0:26.4 | It's going to be fucking lit. |
0:28.2 | Which by the way, why is Lester Square Theatre spelled like that? That was like like Heistr. |
0:32.9 | We are so excited for the stamp show. |
0:36.3 | We're gonna have games. We're gonna have audience participation. |
0:39.4 | And of course, we're gonna have our juicy analysis while diving into a much requested and never before discussed top secret cult. |
0:48.5 | You cannot hear this cult subject matter on any episode because it's what we do for our live show, |
0:54.0 | so you really have to be there and then meet us after the show by some merch. |
0:58.9 | We're there to chat with you, babes. |
1:00.6 | Tickets are on sale now at SoundsLikeAkult.com and at the link in our IG bio. |
1:06.3 | Again, that's Friday, May 26th, 2023, aka this year at 6.30pm, we will see you there at Lester Square Theatre in London. |
1:15.2 | See you there, babes. |
1:16.8 | My name is Erica and I'm from Philadelphia. |
1:19.2 | I think the cultiest thing about Elizabeth Holmes is how she used specific quotes from things like |
1:23.7 | Star Wars to words-allowed people into believing that things that were impossible according to physics were actually possible. |
1:31.5 | Yoda's allowed to do that to me, not Elizabeth Holmes. |
1:34.5 | My name is Annabel. I'm from Georgia and I think the cultiest thing about Elizabeth Holmes is how she glorified the toxic work culture that exists in Silicon Valley. |
1:46.8 | She always bragged about how she only needed to sleep four hours a night and how she wore the same thing every day so she could just work and didn't have to worry about her wardrobe. |
1:56.3 | She ate the same thing every day. She didn't own a TV. |
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