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On Monday night, HBO debuted The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, Alex Gibney’s new documentary about Elizabeth Holmes’ Theranos scandal. Holmes’ biotech company had a meteoric rise, but the Theranos empire crumbled when it was revealed that the Stanford dropout had scammed her way to success — a process so involved that it even included faking her voice. The Inventor never addresses what’s up with Holmes’ voice, but that didn’t stop Twitter users from dunking on Holmes and her fake baritone. The only thing better than a story of lies and deception? A story of lies and deception with a fake voice.
As our Kayla Cobb writes in her in-depth breakdown of Holmes’ vocal embellishment, the entrepreneur’s deep, masculine-sounding voice was a key part of her scam. In the male-dominated world of Silicon Valley, Holmes was desperate to blend in, so she changed her appearance (she started wearing Steve Jobs-inspired black turtlenecks and stopped brushing her hair) and her voice. ABC’s podcast about Holmes, The Dropout, confirmed that Holmes faked her deeper voice, and according to her old co-workers, she would sometimes “fall out of character,” particularly when she had been drinking.
Unfortunately, at no point during its two-hour runtime does The Inventor ever mention Holmes’ fake voice, which can be heard throughout the doc. But just because Gibeny shied away from addressing the vocal scandal doesn’t mean Twitter had to. After the film aired on Monday night, social media users chimed in with their hot takes, memes, and jokes about Holmes’ Theranos voice, and they wasted no time before dragging the failed mogul. “Honestly would’ve watched a whole doc just about Elizabeth Holmes fucking voice,” wrote The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino. “The ‘Elizabeth Holmes Voice’ is my new go-to drunk impression,” said another user. “Elizabeth Holmes voice when it comes out of her mouth is insane,” added another.
If we ever get a sequel to The Inventor — maybe one that follows what the Theranos CEO is up to now? — we’re going to need a deep dive into Holmes’ fake voice. Give the people what they want, HBO.
