Elizabeth Holmes Doc Draws Backlash
Theranos whistleblower Tyler Shultz pushes back as the film divides viewers over Holmes' culpability.
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Updated Oct 20, 5:00pm ETBoth sides, every morning
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What happened
Nathan FielderNathan FielderCanadian writer and comedian and Lance OppenheimLance OppenheimAmerican film director’s nearly three-hour documentary “You Can See Everything” is drawing backlash over its portrayal of Elizabeth HolmesElizabeth HolmesAmerican biotechnology entrepreneur convicted of fraud in the weeks before she reported to prison in 2023. The film follows Holmes, her fiancé, Billy Evans, and their children before her separation from them. Holmes was convicted of defrauding TheranosTheranosdefunct American privately held health-technology company investors and sentenced in 2022 to more than 11 years in prison. Theranos had claimed its technology could run many tests from a finger-prick blood sample, but its testing was unreliable. Holmes says she did nothing wrong and that the company had a working invention. Whistleblowers Tyler Shultz and Erika Cheung reject that account. The documentary is expected to expand to more theaters.
How each side covered it
From the left
Left-leaning outlets framed the film less as a comeback story than as a troubling test of whether Holmes can still shape belief. HuffPost centered Tyler Shultz’s charge that Holmes built a “web of lies” rather than sincerely misreading Theranos. The Boston Globe leaned into uncertainty, saying the film left “more questions than answers”. The New Republic lingered on the family separation and found the dread unexpectedly moving.
From the right
Right-leaning outlets treated the backlash through audience reaction and box-office force, rather than through the film’s moral uncertainty. Fox News focused on Amanda Seyfried facing criticism after Holmes challenged her portrayal, casting Seyfried as defensive under pressure. World News Group emphasized the documentary’s rare commercial strength, calling it the biggest documentary opening weekend in more than two decades.
Headlines
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Center5
The Free Press · Oct 20Tyler Cowen: Elizabeth Holmes Should Not Be in Prison
Fortune · Oct 20Theranos whistleblower barely recognizes Elizabeth Holmes in new documentary: ‘The Elizabeth that I knew completely commanded a room’ | Fortune
NewsNation · Oct 19Whistleblower sounds off after record-breaking Elizabeth Holmes doc debut
STAT News · Oct 20Why I wish you didn’t want to see Nathan Fielder’s Elizabeth Holmes documentary
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