This is a list ofscandals or controversies whose names include a-gate suffix, by analogy with theWatergate scandal, as well as other incidents to which the suffix has (often facetiously) been applied.[1] This list also includes controversies that are widely referred to with a-gate suffix, but may be referred to by another more common name (such as theNew Orleans Saints bounty scandal, known as "Bountygate"). Use of the-gate suffix has spread beyondAmerican English to many other countries and languages.
Thesuffix-gate derives from theWatergate scandal in the United States in the early 1970s, which resulted in the resignation ofUS PresidentRichard Nixon.[2] The scandal was named after theWatergate complex inWashington, D.C., where the burglary giving rise to the scandal took place; the complex itself was named after the "Water Gate" area wheresymphony orchestra concerts were staged on thePotomac River between 1935 and 1965.[3]
The suffix has becomeproductive as alibfix and is used to embellish a noun or name to suggest the existence of afar-reaching scandal, particularly inpolitics andgovernment. As aCBC News column noted in 2001, the term may "suggest unethical behaviour and acover-up".[4]
Such usage has been criticized by some commentators asclichéd and misleading.[5] James Stanyer comments that "revelations are given the 'gate' suffix to add a thin veil of credibility, following 'Watergate', but most bear no resemblance to the painstaking investigation of that particular piece of presidentialcorruption".[6] Stanyer links the widespread use of-gate to what the sociologistJohn Thompson calls "scandal syndrome":
[A] self-reproducing and self-reinforcing process, driven on by competitive and combative struggles in the media and political fields and giving rise to more and more scandals which increasingly become the focus of mediated forms of public debate, marginalizing or displacing other issues and producing on occasion a climate of political crisis which can debilitate or even paralyse a government.[7]
The adoption of-gate to suggest the existence of a scandal was promoted byWilliam Safire, the conservativeNew York Times columnist and former Nixon administration speechwriter. As early as September 1974, he wrote of "Vietgate", a proposedpardon of the Watergate criminals andVietnam Wardraft dodgers.[9] Subsequently, he coined numerous-gate terms, includingBillygate, Briefingate,Contragate, Deavergate,Debategate, Doublebillingsgate (of which he later said "My best [-gate coinage] was the encapsulation of a minor ... scandal as doublebillingsgate"), Frankiegate, Franklingate, Genschergate, Housegate,Iraqgate,Koreagate,Lancegate, Maggiegate,Nannygate, Raidergate, Scalpgate, Travelgate,Troopergate, andWhitewatergate. TheNew York magazine suggested that his aim in doing so was "rehabilitating Nixon by relentlessly tarring his successors with the same rhetorical brush – diminishedguilt by association".[10] Safire himself later said to authorEric Alterman that he "may have been seeking to minimize the relative importance of the crimes committed by his former boss with this silliness".[11]
The usage has spread into languages other than English; examples of-gate being used to refer to local political scandals have been reported fromArgentina,Germany,South Korea,Hungary,Greece and the formerYugoslavia.[12] The term is also used inMandarin Chinese with the suffix-mén (simplified Chinese:门;traditional Chinese:門;lit. 'door', 'gate').
Some commentators have characterized this use of the-gate suffix as asnowclone.[13] ButGeoffrey Pullum, the coiner of the termsnowclone, considers that it is only a "lexical word-formation analog".[14]Martha Brockenbrough, the founder of The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar, said that no one should aspire to write with cliches and that although they do help to get a lot of complicated things across in few words, they are not a good way to get people to keep reading what you're writing.[15]
The use of a suffix in this way is not new.-mandering has long been used as a suffix by a politician's name in analogy withgerrymandering ("Henry-mandering" was used in 1852). In recent years, the-gate suffix as a catch-all signifier for scandal has seen some competition from-ghazi, as in "Ballghazi" instead of "Deflategate",[16] or "Bridgeghazi" instead of "Bridgegate".[17] The use of-ghazi is a play on theinvestigation into the 2012 Benghazi attack, which, despite numerous official investigations into the possibility of government cover-ups, has resulted in no criminal charges or major repercussions for the individuals supposedly involved.-ghazi may be seen as carrying an ironic or self-effacing connotation in its usage, implying that the event described has the appearance and media coverage of a scandal, but does not actually amount to much in a grander sense.[18]
Like the-gate suffix, the Italian-opoli suffix emerged in Italian media from investigations in the 1990s that uncovered a system known asTangentopoli.[19] The term derives fromtangente, which means 'kickback' (e.g., bribery given forpublic works contracts),[20] and-(o)poli, meaning 'city'. Examples of snowclone-like use of-opoli includeBancopoli (a financial scandal) andCalciopoli (a 2006 Italian football scandal).
These scandals have been given the-gate suffix.
| Name | Year | Description | Country | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burning Sun gate (Burning Sun scandal) | 2019 | An entertainment and sex scandal that revolved around the Burning Sun nightclub inSeoul and involved several celebrities, includingKorean idols in popularK-pop groups, and police officials. | South Korea | [21] |
| Celebgate (also known as "The Fappening") | 2014 | A collection of nearly 500 private photographs of various celebrities, many containing nudity, leaked viaiCloud and posted on theimageboard4chan, and later disseminated by other users on websites and social networks such asImgur andReddit. | United States | [22][23][24] |
| Closetgate | 2006 | The controversy that erupted following the broadcast of theSouth Park episode "Trapped in the Closet", asatiricalparody of theChurch of Scientology and some of its famous adherents, such asTom Cruise. | United States | [25] |
| Coldplaygate | 2025 | On 16 July 2025, during theColdplay show atGillette Stadium, the stadium’s jumbotron cut to data firm Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the firm's chief people officer Kristin Cabot, who were standing close with Byron’s arms wrapped around Cabot, prompting the pair to duck out of view to hide their possibleaffair. | United States | [26][27] |
| Comicsgate | 2018 | Comicsgate is analt-right campaign in opposition to what its participants describe as "forced diversity" andprogressivism comic books – including the creators hired, the characters depicted, and the stories told – which they argue has led to a decline in both quality and sales. | North America | [28] |
| Conformitygate (also "Conformity Gate") | 2026 | Social media outrage surrounding the final season ofNetflix original sci-fi showStranger Things, including a conspiracy theory that the series finale aired December 31st 2025 was ared herring and that the "true" series finale would be released on January 7th, 2026, with aChange.org petition to release the rumored true finale acquiring upwards of 400,000 signatures. On January 7th, the Netflix site reportedly experienced an outage due to increased user traffic. | Worldwide | [29] |
| Cuntgate | 2018 | The outrage on social media that followed whenSamantha Bee calledIvanka Trump a "feckless cunt" on her comedy news show,Full Frontal, in the context of thefamily separation policy under thefirst Trump administration. | United States | [30][31][32] |
| Derpygate | 2012 | Controversy surrounding the character ofDerpy Hooves from the animated seriesMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Following the character's speaking debut in the episode "The Last Roundup", criticism emerged regarding her name, appearance and voice, which was interpreted as ableist.Hasbro andThe Hub subsequently pulled the episode fromiTunes, and released a modified version with the character's voice lines rerecorded, eyes straightened and name removed from dialogue. The decision to modify the episode in turn resulted in further controversy within thebrony fandom. | United States and Canada | [33] |
| Donutgate (also "Doughnutgate") | 2015 | SingerAriana Grande was observed on video inLake Elsinore, California, licking unpurchased doughnuts and stating "I hate Americans. I hate America. That's disgusting." In the aftermath of both police and health department investigations, Grande canceled her headlining performance at the2015 MLB All-Star Game concert, citing recent oral surgery. | United States | [34][35][36] |
| Doritogate | 2012 | Two initially unconnected events involving video game journalistsGeoff Keighley and Lauren Wainwright are questioned in an article byRobert Florence, triggering a chain of events;
| [37] | |
| Driv3rgate | 2004 | Video game magazinesPSM2 andXbox World gave favorable reviews ofDriver 3, a game which received an otherwise lukewarm critical response. Some gamers and journalists accused Atari of having givenearly access to the game on the condition it would be given favorable ratings. | United Kingdom | [38][39][40] |
| Elevatorgate | 2014 | A widely covered celebrity incident involving American music artistsBeyoncé,Jay-Z, andSolange Knowles in May 2014. After leaving a Met Gala after-party at The Standard Hotel in New York City, a surveillance video was leaked showing Solange Knowles physically attacking her brother-in-law Jay-Z inside a hotel elevator while Beyoncé stood by, prompting extensive media attention and speculation about the cause of the altercation. | Worldwide | [41][42][43] |
| Elsagate | 2014[a]–present[citation needed] | A scandal and phenomenon referring to thousands of inappropriateYouTube videos deceptively targeted towards young children, often referred to as "content farms". These videos, in order to attract young viewers, originally featured characters from famous cartoons, such asFrozen,Spider-Man, andPeppa Pig, but have since turned to video games and web series, such asMinecraft,Roblox,Among Us,Five Nights at Freddy's,Poppy Playtime,Friday Night Funkin', andThe Amazing Digital Circus.[citation needed] | Worldwide | [45] |
| Envelopegate | 2017 | At the89th Academy Awards,Warren Beatty andFaye Dunaway came onstage to present the award forBest Picture, in celebration of the 50th anniversary ofBonnie and Clyde. Beatty opened the envelope, and Dunaway announcedLa La Land as the winner. Around two minutes later, when theLa La Land producers were giving acceptance speeches, producerJordan Horowitz declared that the announcement was a mistake, and announcedMoonlight as the actual winner of the Best Picture. Beatty later came onstage to apologize for the mistake, stating that the envelope he had initially been given namedEmma Stone for her actress performance inLa La Land, after which the producers ofMoonlight came on stage. The incident drew comparisons to theMiss Universe 2015 event, whereSteve Harvey mistakenly announcedAriadna Gutiérrez of Colombia as the winner, when the actual winner wasPia Wurtzbach of the Philippines. | United States | [46] |
| Gamergate | 2014 | The Gamergate controversy concerns issues of sexism and progressivism in video game culture, stemming from a harassment campaign conducted primarily through the use of the Twitter hashtag #GamerGate. | United States | [47] |
| Gamergate 2.0 | 2024 | A campaign against narrative design companySweet Baby Inc. for its perceived "woke agenda" over support forDEI was referred to as "Gamergate 2.0". ASteam group with 100,000 members highlighted video games that Sweet Baby had been involved with, and discouraged people from playing them. AKotaku reporter was subjected to online harassment after infiltrating and reporting on the group. | United States | [48] |
| Gerstmanngate | 2007 | Refers to the controversy following the November 2007 dismissal ofJeff Gerstmann from his position as editorial director ofGameSpot. Gerstmann had awarded aFair rating to the gameKane & Lynch: Dead Men at a time when the game was being heavily advertised on GameSpot, which led to accusations from many games journalists of a lack of editorial integrity on the part of GameSpot, who denied that the review had been a part of the reasoning behind the dismissal. However, a subsequent interview with Gerstmann in 2012 countered this statement, with Gerstmann claiming that, although there was more to his firing than any single review, it would not be untrue to say that theKane & Lynch episode contributed to it. | United States | [49][50] |
| Mandragate | 2015 | A corruption scandal over programming procurement involving Indonesian comedian Mandra and state-owned television networkTVRI. | Indonesia | [51][52][53] |
| Nipplegate (also "Boobgate" or "wardrobe malfunction") | 2004 | Justin Timberlake exposedJanet Jackson's breast during thehalftime show ofSuper Bowl XXXVIII. | United States | [54][55] |
| Nudegate (Edison Chen photo scandal) | 2008 | Intimate photographs of Hong Kong actorEdison Chen were leaked online and widely discussed in Hong Kong media. Called "Nudegate" (simplified Chinese:艳照门;traditional Chinese:豔照門;pinyin:Yànzhàomén) in mainland China, using the Chinese character for the word "gate" (simplified Chinese:门;traditional Chinese:門;pinyin:mén) | China and Hong Kong | [56] |
| Pandoragate | 2023 | A scandal among Polishinfluencers which started whenYouTubers Sylwester Wardęga and Konopskyy revealed videos depicting abuse by multiple popular Polish influencers toward their viewers. One such influencer, Stuu, wrote lewd messages to a 14-year-old girl. The case was loudly commented on by Polish media and politicians, including Polish prime ministerMateusz Morawiecki and Minister of JusticeZbigniew Ziobro. | Poland | [57][58][59] |
| Papoosegate | 2018 | British television hostPiers Morgan retweeted and mocked (commenting, Oh 007.. not you as well?!!! and including the hashtag "#emasculatedBond") a photo of English actorDaniel Craig holding his newborn daughter in apapoose while walking down the street. After facing backlash for the tweet (notably from celebrities such as American actorChris Evans), Morgan attempted to explain it by claiming that "James Bond would never use a papoose to carry his babies". | United Kingdom | [60][61][62] |
| Penisgate | 2015 | While performing at a concert in Stockholm, singerLenny Kravitz squatted and his pants split open revealing his penis to concertgoers. Variations of the term have been used to describe other controversies involvingJustin Bieber, Olympic skiers, and local school board officials, among others. | Sweden | [63][64][65][66] |
| Poopgate (Dave Matthews Band bus incident) | 2004 | Atour bus belonging to the American rock groupDave Matthews Band dumped an estimated 800 pounds (360 kg) ofhuman waste from the bus'sblackwater tank through theKinzie Street Bridge inChicago onto an open-toppassenger sightseeing boat sailing in theChicago River below. | United States | [67][68] |
| Portraitgate (Brian Cowen nude portraits controversy) | 2009 | Twooil paintings depictingBrian Cowen,Taoiseach of Ireland, in thenude, were briefly displayed inDublin art galleries in March 2009 as an act ofguerrilla art. | Ireland | [69][70][71] |
| Queuegate | 2022 | Controversy surrounding the accusation thatThis Morning presentersPhillip Schofield andHolly Willoughby jumped the queue to walk past the coffin of QueenElizabeth II during herlying-in-state inWestminster Hall. Schofield and Willoughby's actions were compared to that of other celebrities, such asDavid Beckham and fellow television presenters such asSusanna Reid, who had queued several hours with the public rather than skip the queue at Westminster Hall. The scandal prompted the creation of aChange.org petition calling for the presenters to be dismissed from the programme, which reached 75,000 signatures within a week. | United Kingdom | [72][73][74] |
| Sachsgate (prank calls byThe Russell Brand Show; also "Manuelgate") | 2008 | ComedianRussell Brand and TV presenterJonathan Ross left a series of obscene voice messages on the answering machine of actorAndrew Sachs during an episode of theBBC Radio 2 show,The Russell Brand Show. | United Kingdom | [75] |
| Slapgate (Chris Rock–Will Smith slapping incident) | 2022 | On March 27, 2022, during thelive television broadcast of the94th Academy Awards, actorWill Smith walked onstage and slapped comedianChris Rock[76] across the face during Rock's monologue before presenting theAcademy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film. Just before, Rock had made a comment about Smith's wife,Jada Pinkett Smith, and hershaved head, which Pinkett Smith has said was due to heralopecia areata. Smith then walked onto the stage and slapped Rock before returning to his seat, where Smith repeatedly shoutedprofanities at Rock, on live television. | United States | [77][78][79] |
| Snakegate | 2016 | A controversy involvingTaylor Swift,Kanye West, andKim Kardashian, stemming from a lyric in Kanye West's song "Famous." The term was popularized bySwift's fans to describe the criticism she faced and the subsequent portrayal of her as a "snake" by some online, due to the perceived deception surrounding the lyric. | United States | [80][81] |
| Spitgate | 2022 | A video taken at the79th Venice International Film Festival premiere ofDon't Worry Darling was interpreted by some social media commentators to depictHarry Styles, the film's lead, spitting on co-starChris Pine. Both Pine and directorOlivia Wilde denied this rumor, and Styles later jokingly referenced the alleged incident at a concert. | Italy | [82][83][84] |
| Threshergate | 1992 | A controversy based around a faked story, claiming that then-British ChancellorNorman Lamont had purchased cigarettes and champagne at aliquor store. | United Kingdom | [85] |
| Tomatogate | 2015 | Radio consultant Keith Hill compared women artists incountry music to a garnish, saying that male artists were the lettuce in our salad and "the tomatoes of our salad are the females." | United States | [86] |
| Treegate | 2023 | NBCUniversal hired arborists to illegally trim trees outside of Gate 8 on Barham Road inUniversal City, which was being picketed bySAG-AFTRA and theWriters Guild of America West during theirrespective strikes. Picketers and union representatives alleged that trimming these trees out of season and without a permit was a punitive measure, as theSan Fernando Valley had been experiencing aheat wave, and picketers had been using those trees for shade. NBCUniversal representatives denied that selective pruning of those trees was a targeted attack on the protesters, calling it and the ongoing construction onLankershim Boulevard "unintended challenges for demonstrators". As the company was a first-time offender, NBCUniversal received a maximum fine of just US$250 from theCity of Los Angeles for destruction of city property and tree law violation. | United States | [87][88][89] |
| Name | Year | Description | Country | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Choppergate | 2011 | TheNine News Queensland bulletins on August 20 and 21, 2011, included live coverage each night by reporters Melissa Mallet andCameron Price, respectively, from the station's helicopter, which they claimed was "nearBeerwah", where the remains of murdered schoolboyDaniel Morcombe had been found earlier that month. The reports were revealed to be fake when, on the second night, rival stationChannel Seven recorded video of the Nine helicopter sitting on the helipad outside their studios atMount Coot-tha at the time of the broadcast. Radar footage also revealed that, on the first night, the helicopter was actually hovering overChapel Hill, 70 kilometres (43 mi) away from Beerwah. Both Mallet and Price, as well as news producer Aaron Wakeley, were sacked by theNine Network following the incident, and news director Lee Anderson accepted responsibility and resigned over the faked reports. | Australia | [90] |
| Chyrongate | 2023 | A chyron (lower third) regarding former President Donald Trump's federal arrest ran on Fox News during speeches by both Trump and President Joe Biden reading, "Wannabe dictator speaks at White House after having his political rival arrested". This was criticized by many journalists and the White House itself. | United States | [91][92][93] |
| Climategate | 2010 | Emails that werehacked remotely from theClimatic Research Unit of theUniversity of East Anglia were publicized byclimate change denialists alleging aglobal warming conspiracy theory: the allegations against climate scientists were subject to eight investigations, which found there was no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct, though there was a finding of a lack of openness. | United Kingdom | [94][95][96] |
| Elevatorgate | 2011 | In June 2011, skeptic bloggerRebecca Watson revealed that a stranger followed her into an elevator at 4am as she was leaving the World Atheist Convention and propositioned her. After stating that she found this intrusive, several opponents sent her hate mail including death threats. Further controversy arose whenRichard Dawkins wrote a blog post which mocked Watson by comparing her experiences to those of women in Muslim countries. | Ireland | [97] |
| Facebookgate | 2008 | In order to promote their university guides, book publisher College Prowler (now rebranded asNiche) created 125 fake "Class of 2013" Facebook groups. After their involvement was exposed, they removed their administrative access from the groups, admitting, "It was clearly over the line." | United States | [98] |
| Fredo-Gate | 2019 | A heckler inShelter Island, New York referred to journalistChris Cuomo as "Fredo", in reference to a fictional mobster character namedFredo Corleone, fromThe Godfather film, who was generally associated with emotional weakness and a lack of intelligence. Following Cuomo's profanity-laced tirade against the individual in question, PresidentDonald Trump tweeted about the incident numerous times, criticizing Cuomo's behavior. | United States | [99] |
| Hackgate (News International phone hacking scandal; also "Rupertgate" or "Murdochgate") | 2011 | Allegations that the now-defunctNews of the World had hacked into the phones of celebrities, politicians, members of theBritish royal family, and victims of crime. | United Kingdom | [100] |
| Kategate (also "Photogate") | 2024 | A scandal involving the release and then retraction of aMother's Day photo, later claimed to have beendoctored by her, byCatherine, Princess of Wales (aka Kate), and her three children. | United Kingdom | [101][102] |
| Mediagate (also "Anchorgate") | 2012 | The controversy overPakistani top journalists in the mainstream media. | Pakistan | [103] |
| Rathergate (Killian documents controversy; also "Memogate") | 2004 | The scandal over a forged memo aboutGeorge W. Bush's military record that ultimately led to the resignation ofDan Rather as anchor ofCBS Evening News. | United States | [104][105] |
| Reutersgate | 2006 | The controversy overReuters photographerAdnan Hajj manipulating news photos withPhotoshop. | Lebanon | [106][107][108] |
| Suzygate or Suzyscam | 1988 | James Revson, a rival gossip columnist atNewsday, accused Suzy Knickerbocker of fabricating some of the content of her columns. He alleged that she had reported on parties which she had not attended, instead writing from press releases and guest lists. | United States | [109] |
| Ubergate | 2018 | The controversy surroundingKarl Stefanovic and a phone call he had in the back of anUber, complaining about his job as a journalist. The incident led to his resignation onAustralia'sToday show. | Australia | [110] |
| Name | Year | Description | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abu Ghraibgate | 2004 | Thetorture and abuse of inmates atAbu Ghraib prison inIraq. | [111][112] |
| Agrogate (Agrokomerc Affair) | 1987 | Widespread economic and political corruption in theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was exposed as its economy collapsed, contributing to itsdisintegration in 1991. | [113][114] |
| Angolagate (Mitterrand–Pasqua affair) | 2008 | Arms sales to theGovernment of Angola by theGovernment of France between 1993 and 2000. | [115][116] |
| Baligate (Bank Bali scandal) | 1999 | Golkar Party officials colluded with theIndonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) to coerce Bank Bali (nowPermata Bank) chief Rudy Ramli to pay an illegal commission ofRp 526 billion (then equivalent to aboutUS$80 million) to private company Era Giat Prima in order to collectRp 904.6 billion owed by two banks taken over by IBRA. | [117][118] |
| Bananagate | 1974 | TheUnited Brands Company paid a $1.25 million bribe to Honduran PresidentOswaldo López Arellano, followed by another $1.25 million the next year to have a tax reduced from fifty cents to twenty-five cents per box of bananas. When the bribe was revealed, it provoked the overthrow of the military government in Honduras and this in turn led to the nationalisation of United's railways along with a major divestiture of land by the companies. | [119][120] |
| Beachgate | 2017 | Chris Christie, the then-Governor of New Jersey, visited a state-owned beach house with his family amid astatewide government shutdown that closed such beaches to the public. The family was depicted lounging in the sun in airplane photographs taken by the state's largest newspaper,The Star-Ledger. Christie subsequently defended his actions. | [121] |
| Beergate | 2022 | Keir Starmer, the leader of theLabour Party, was accused of breaching BritishCOVID-19 regulations on social gathering while campaigning in Durham in 2021, with pictures circulating of him and his colleagues drinking beer indoors against government advice. Gaining media attention in 2022, critics have cited potential hypocrisy by Starmer given his harsh criticisms ofBoris Johnson's actions duringPartygate. On 9 May 2022, Starmer announced that he would resign as leader of the opposition if he were to be found to have broken COVID-19 regulations, as did his deputy Angela Rayner. Starmer and Rayner were cleared of any wrongdoing by Durham police. | [122][123][124] |
| Bibigate (1) | 1993 | Benjamin Netanyahu admitted to having an extramarital affair. | [125] |
| Bibigate (2) | 1997 | It was alleged that Netanyahu had chosenRoni Bar-On as attorney-general to pleaseAryeh Deri, who was being prosecuted in a corruption trial. | [126] |
| Bigotgate | 2010 | UK Prime MinisterGordon Brown is accidentally recorded calling a party supporter a bigot after a woman challenged him while he was campaigning inRochdale during the run-up to the 2010 UK general Election. | [127] |
| Billygate | 1980 | US PresidentJimmy Carter's brother,Billy Carter, legally represented theLibyan government as a foreign agent. | [128] |
| Bingogate | 1999 | A scandal that occurred during the administration of Premier ofBritish ColumbiaMike Harcourt, involving the skimming of charity funds for use by the ruling NDP by formerMLADave Stupich (Harcourt was not involved but did resign). | [129] |
| Biscuitgate | 2017 | A scandal inMauritius involving the alleged abuse of power by the speaker of parliament's daughter to sell biscuits to government departments at inflated prices. | [130][131] |
| Blabbergate | 2017 | US PresidentDonald Trump allegedly revealed highly classified information toRussia's Foreign Minister and Ambassador, boasting, "I get great intel. I have people brief me on great intel every day." Trump seemingly confirmed the scandal in a tweet. | [132][133][134] |
| Bleachgate | 2020 | US PresidentDonald Trump suggesting drinking bleach to cure COVID-19. | [135] |
| Blobbygate | 1994 | Lancaster City Council spent £300,000 of taxpayer's money on aCrinkley Bottom theme park which only stayed open for 13 weeks. The overall cost to the taxpayer was £2.6 million. It was known as "Blobbygate" due to theMr Blobby character who was the main character of the park. | [136][137] |
| Bonusgate | 2008 | Pennsylvania scandal involving the alleged use of government funds to finance partisan political campaigns. | [138] |
| Bridgegate | 2013 | Allegations New Jersey GovernorChris Christie's administration ordered lane closures fromFort Lee, New Jersey, to theGeorge Washington Bridge because the Fort Leemayor did not endorse his reelection. | [139] |
| Brothelgate | 2010 | The series of events that led to the resignation of the Irish Minister of DefenceWillie O'Dea. | [140] |
| Buloggate and Bruneigate | 2003 | Two related cases that leads to Indonesian presidentAbdurrahman Wahid'simpeachment:
| [141][142][143] |
| Cablegate | 2010 | In November 2010,WikiLeaks began to release American diplomatic cables from a trove of over 250,000. | [144] |
| Calendargate | 2023–2024 | The promotional 2024 calendar released by Ultra Right Beer featuring young American female conservative activists and commentators inpin-up poses, some but not all minimally dressed, to disparagetrans women; it was widely criticized bysocial andChristian conservatives as indecorous and contrary to the movement's values while embraced and defended by libertarians. | [145] |
| Cashgate | 2014 | The plundering ofMalawian government funds by government officials in 2013. | [146] |
| CatalanGate | 2022 | A scandal involving accusations of espionage by theSpanish Government using theNSO Group'sPegasus spyware against figures of theCatalan independence movement after theProcés. | [147] |
| Cheriegate | 2002 | A political scandal over the purchase of two flats in Bristol byCherie Blair with the alleged assistance ofPeter Foster, a convicted Australian conman and boyfriend of Blair's friendCarole Caplin. | [148][149] |
| Choi Soon-sil gate | 2016 | South Korean scandal involvingChoi Soon-sil's influence over presidentPark Geun-hye. | [150] |
| Choppergate (India) | 2013 | An Indian parliamentary investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption involving several senior officials and helicopter manufacturerAgustaWestland surrounding the purchase of a new fleet of helicopters. | [151] |
| Choppergate (Australia) | 2014 | An Australian political scandal involvingSpeaker of the Australian House of Representatives,Bronwyn Bishop flying fromMelbourne to a party fundraiser inGeelong in November 2014, at a cost of AUD$5227. | [152][153] |
| Chinagate | 1996 | Refers to the allegations ofChinese interference in the1996 United States elections, and the possible collusion between Beijing and theClinton presidential campaign, and the subsequent presidency. | [154] |
| Civangate [tr] | 1994 | Allegations of involvement by theÖzal family on the shooting of Engin Civan, former head of theEmlak Bank, which was organized by mob leaderAlaattin Çakıcı | [155] |
| Climategate | Leaked emails reveal some members of theUK Parliament to beclimate change denialists | ||
| Clonegate | 2020 | Russian presidentVladimir Putin has been accused of havingclones, proponents say that his extremely different appearance is a giveaway, however thishoax has been disproven, as this appearance change is easily explained withBotox use andfacelifts. | [156][157] |
| Coingate | 2005 | The mishandling ofOhio government funds entrusted toOhio Republican Party operatives, involving rare coin funds | [158] |
| Coalgate | 2014 | The mishandling of coal field auctions by the Indian government under the UPA-1. The alleged loss was $37 billion. | [159] |
| Cokegate | 2023 | On July 2, 2023, theUnited States Secret Service found a small plastic bag containing powdercocaine inside theWhite House. | [160] |
| Corngate | 2002 | A political scandal in New Zealand in 2002, which involved the suspected release ofgenetically modifiedcorn seed in 2000. | [161] |
| Cryptogate | 2025 | Controversy following Argentine PresidentJavier Milei's promotion of thecryptocurrency $LIBRA on social media which subsequently suffered a severe price crash. | [162][163][164] |
| Dasukigate | 2015 | The diversion of moneys intended for purchase of arms and armaments for the Nigerian army in its counter-insurgency war withBoko Haram to things like paying forSambo Dasuki's purchase of real estate property in Dubai and paying a friend's private hospital complex for "offering prayers" for the success of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan's re-election bid | [165] |
| Debategate | 1980 | A political scandal in the United States involving the suspicious acquisition of debate preparation documents. | [166] |
| Donnygate | 1990s | A political scandal involving expenses fraud by councillors inDoncaster, United Kingdom | [167] |
| Dildogate | 2016 | Protest action against theTrans-Pacific Partnership where a protester flung a rubberdildo at MPSteven Joyce, striking him in the face. Also known as theWaitangi dildo incident. | [168] |
| Dissertation-gate | 2019 | Controversy surrounding the authenticity of Taiwanese PresidentTsai Ing-wen's 1984 doctorate earned at theLondon School of Economics. (See Chinese article:zh) | [169][170] |
| Duna-gate | 1990 | A political scandal in Hungary in 1990, with the communist regime's secret service illegally collecting information on opposition parties. | [171][172] |
| Elbowgate | 2016 | Canadian Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau accidentally elbowed a female MP in the chest in the House of Commons, causing the opposition to accuse him of assaulting her. | [173][174] |
| Emailgate | 2015 | Duringher tenure as United States Secretary of State,Hillary Clinton drew controversy by using a privateemail server for official public communications rather than using officialState Department email accounts maintained on federal servers. Clinton's server was found to hold over 100 emails containing classified information, including 65 emails deemed "Secret" and 22 deemed "Top Secret". An additional 2,093 emails not marked classified were retroactively designatedconfidential by the State Department.[175][176][177] The controversy was a major point of discussion and contention during the2016 presidential election, in which Clinton was the Democratic nominee. In July, FBI directorJames Comey announced that the FBI investigation had concluded that Clinton had been "extremely careless" but recommended that no charges be filed because Clinton did not act withcriminal intent, the historical standard for pursuing prosecution.[178] Clinton claimed that her use complied with federal laws and State Department regulations, and that former secretaries of state had also maintained personal email accounts (however Clinton was the only secretary of state to use aprivate server).[179] Unlike the official system, which was hacked by the Russians, her private system was never hacked.[citation needed] | |
| Erdogate | 2016 | After the publication of a satirical comedy sketch byJan Böhmermann andNeo Magazin Royale, Turkish presidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan filed several lawsuits against the comedian, which led theBundestag to decide to discard the antiquated law §103. | [180] |
| Faceliftgate | 2017 | Controversy surrounding twoDonald Trump tweets criticizingMorning Joe hostsMika Brzezinski andJoe Scarborough. Together, the tweets read "I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came... to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!" | [181][182][183] |
| Fallagate | 2007 | Political scandal inGuernsey over an attempt to avoid a political conflict of interest over a hospital extension plan. | [184] |
| Fajitagate | 2002 | In November 2002, three off-duty San Francisco police officers allegedly assaulted two civilians over a bag of steakfajitas (which were mistaken as drugs), leading to the retirement of the chief of police and the firing of his successor. | [185] |
| Fangate | 2014 | In a 2014 Florida gubernatorial election debate GovernorRick Scott did not take the stage for seven minutes after learning that his Democratic opponent, former GovernorCharlie Crist, had a small electric fan underneath his lectern, which Scott's campaign and debate organizers stated was against the agreed rules. Scott was subsequently criticized for nearly derailing a debate over a trivial issue. | [186] |
| Farmgate | 2022 | In February 2020 US$4 million was stolen from South African presidentCyril Ramaphosa's private game farm. The theft was not reported and only became public in June 2022 following the lodging of an official criminal complaint against the president by the controversial former head of the State Security AgencyArthur Fraser. The incident raised a number of questions about why the theft was not reported, why Fraser only reported it two years later, and what impact it might have on future South African politics. | [187][188] |
| Fartgate (Canada) | 2016 | In a speech at theCanadian House of Commons made byMichelle Rempel Garner, the MP forCalgary Nose Hill, Alberta, about jobs in her province, Rempel asked, "Why does this government treat Alberta like a fart in the room that nobody wants to talk about or acknowledge?" The member of Parliament forSaanich—Gulf Islands and leader of theCanadian Green Party,Elizabeth May, stood up and described Rempel's use of the word "fart" as "unparliamentary". May requested for Rempel to withdraw the word "fart", which Rempel refused to do. The crowd watching the House of Commons proceeded to heckle May. | [189][190] |
| Fergiegate | 2010 | Videotape of a conversation betweenSarah, Duchess of York andMazher Mahmood in which she is offered £500,000 in return for access to her ex-husband. | [191][192][193] |
| Filegate | 1998 | The illegal possession and scrutiny of 300–900 FBI files by the Clinton Administration without the file subjects' permission. | [194] |
| Floodgate | 2025 | Series of allegations of corruption, mismanagement, and irregularities in the flood control projects in the Philippines during and before the administration of PresidentBongbong Marcos. | [195] |
| Fridgegate | 2019 | After refusing to be interviewed a number of times in the 2019 election campaign UK Prime MinisterBoris Johnson hid in a fridge to avoid being interviewed byGood Morning Britain. Reporter Jonathan Swain attempted to ask Johnson for an interview live on TV while he was campaigning inPudsey, Yorkshire. In the brief encounter a Johnson aide can be heard saying "oh for fuck's sake" before Johnson disappears into a fridge at Modern Milkman. He did not return for the interview. The event was coined 'fridgegate' with a number of memes being created and the tag '#fridgegate' trending on Twitter. | [196] |
| Frockgate | 2024 | Recently elected British Prime MinisterKeir Starmer accepted valuable gifts which he initially failed to declare. | [197] |
| Gaetzgate | 2021 | US politicianMatt Gaetz was placed under investigation concerning sex-trafficking and a potential sexual relationship with a minor. The investigation later expanded to include allegations that Gaetz accepted gifts from marijuana investors, including travel and paid escorts, in exchange forpay-for-play legislation favorable to the investors, and sought to secure government jobs for some of the escorts involved. | [198][199][200] |
| Gaiagate | 2014 | Ruinous spending onVila Nova de Gaia (Portugal) city hall–owned companies and waste disposal concession contracts by former mayorLuís Filipe Menezes and his cronies. | [201] |
| Garglegate | 2010 | A radio interview given byTaoiseachBrian Cowen in September 2010, in which many commentators said he appeared to be suffering from ahangover. | [202] |
| Gategate orplebgate | 2012 | UK political row, when MPAndrew Mitchell allegedly called a policeman a "pleb", after he was asked to use another gate to leaveDowning Street on his bicycle. Mitchell denied using the wordpleb; however, he resigned amid the media furor over the alleged comments. Reports later emerged which called the legitimacy of the officers' claims into question and a PC was eventually jailed for his involvement in the incident. This-gate scandal is noteworthy for actually involving a gate. (Another scandal named Gategate involved footballer Ross McCormack claiming he was unable to attend training due to his electric gate at his home not functioning. It is believed his manager travelled to his house to measure the fence.)[203] | [204][205] |
| Ghaligate | 2021 | Adiplomatic crisis between Morocco and Spain following the admission ofPolisario Front leaderBrahim Ghali to a Spanish hospital. | [206][207][208] |
| Gloriagate (also known as theHello Garci scandal) | 2005 | An electoral scandal in thePhilippines involving leaked telephone conversations between PresidentGloria Macapagal Arroyo anda member of theCommission on Elections (COMELEC), with both allegedly conspiring to rig the results of the2004 presidential election in Arroyo's favor. | [209][210] |
| Golfgate | 2020 | A number of IrishTDs and senators and former TDs and senators includingFine Gael EU CommissionerPhil Hogan,Fianna Fáil TD andMinister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine,Dara Calleary, Galway TDNoel Grealish, and others attended the Oireachtas golf society dinner inClifden,Galway to celebrate its 50th anniversary in direct breach ofCOVID-19 social distancing measures where the limit of individuals in a contained space was set by theDáil with no more than 50 attendees while the event itself had 82 attendees. | [211] |
| Gombakgate | 2025 | Grassroots volunteers from two Singaporean political parties,People's Action Party andProgress Singapore Party, were involved in a series of altercations atBukit Gombak on 4 January, four months prior to the events of the2025 Singaporean general election which was held on 3 May. The term was coined by PSP'sHazel Poa during her rally on 1 May, where she also questioned the PAP's motives behind attempts to further disrupt the PSP's campaigning walkabouts, after a series ofWhatsApp messages suggesting that volunteers linked to PAP candidateShawn Huang (both Huang and Poa contestedWest Coast-Jurong West Group Representation Constituency that election, previously known asWest Coast Group Representation Constituency) on further disrupting the PSP's campaigning walkabouts went viral online; Poa also demanded Huang to issue a statement. PSP also demanded a request for probe findings prior to Polling Day. The police investigations ended on 29 August that no action were taken against both parties, and the police announced that they have declined to disclose their investigation findings to the public. | [212][213][214][215][216][217][218] |
| Grangegate | 2014 | A political scandal involving former New South Wales PremierBarry O'Farrell and a $3,000 bottle ofPenfolds Grange. | [219][220] |
| Greek Watergate | 2022 | Shortly after he took office in 2019, Greek Prime ministerKyriakos Mitsotakis allegedly ordered the Greek intelligence services to have the phones of his political opponentstapped to secretly monitor their calls and texts. These allegations came to light in 2022 afterNikos Androulakis revealed there was an attempt to hack his phone with thePredator spyware. This particular scandal is called "-Watergate" instead of "-gate" because of similarities with the original Watergate scandal including the direct involvement of the most important politician in the country, the wiretapping of the politician's opponents, the scandal's domination of the national news media and the widespread coverage in the international media (with corresponding damage with the government's reputation abroad). | [221] |
| Gropegate (1) | 2003 | Refers tothe allegations ofgroping andsexual misconduct against actor and former California governorArnold Schwarzenegger during his campaign in the2003 California gubernatorial recall election. | [222] |
| Gropegate (2) | 2018 | The name for the accusation ofgroping in 2000 by former journalist Rose Knight against Canadian prime ministerJustin Trudeau. Knight released a public statement asserting she refused to involve herself with publicity or any pursuits of repercussions. | [223] |
| Grubgate | 2024 | An uproar in whichMayra Flores used photos of food from social media and posted to the social media of her political campaign with captions suggesting that she cooked the food in the photos. | [224] |
| Gulargate | 2013 | A political corruption scandal inAzerbaijan involving MPGular Ahmadova. | [225] |
| Guptagate | 2013 | A political scandal involving South African PresidentJacob Zuma and the illegal landing of a planeload of guests at theGupta family's wedding atWaterkloof Air Force Base in South Africa. | [226] |
| Hailgate | 2016 | Scandal following leaked footage of theNazi salute used by attendees of awhite nationalist conference organized byRichard B. Spencer. | [227] |
| Hairgate | 1993 | Unsubstantiated allegations surrounding a haircut given to US PresidentBill Clinton. | [228][229] |
| Handshakegate | 2025 | An event when Syria'sde facto leaderAhmed al-Sharaa failed to shake German foreign ministerAnnalena Baerbock's hand while shaking the French foreign minister's. | [230] |
| Hawaiigate | 2016 | Outrage in Thailand over Defence MinisterPrawit Wongsuwon's 20.9-million-baht chartered flight to an ASEAN-US defence meeting in Hawaii. | [231] |
| Ibizagate | 2019 | A scandal featuring senior members ofAustria's far-rightFPÖ party in a sting operation that happened on the island ofIbiza, involving them offering government contracts to alleged Russian backers in return for favorable coverage in the country's press. This caused theFirst Kurz government of ÖVP and FPÖ parties to collapse. | [232][233] |
| Iraqgate | 2003 | A Finnish scandal involving the leaking of secret documents toAnneli Jäätteenmäki, which helped bring downPaavo Lipponen's government. Later, it also brought down Jäätteenmäki's government. | [234] |
| Irangate or Contragate (also referred to as theIran–Contra affair) | 1980s | TheReagan Administration sold weapons toIran and diverted the proceeds to theContras inNicaragua. | [235] |
| Irisgate | 2010 | UK political scandal involving anaffair by Northern Ireland MLAIris Robinson, wife of First MinisterPeter Robinson. | [236][237][238] |
| Jurmalgate (Latvian:Jūrmalgeita) | 2005 | Political scandal in Latvia that involved several businessmen and politicians offering a bribe to a deputy ofJurmala City Council in an attempt to sway the 2005 mayoral elections. | [239][240] |
| Kazakhgate | 2005 | Scandal surrounding James Giffen, an American businessman and former advisor of Kazakhstani presidentNursultan Nazarbayev, who paid US$78 million in bribes to high-level Kazakhstani officials to secure the oil contracts for Western companies in the 1990s. | [241] |
| Koreagate | 1976 | An American scandal involving South Korean influence peddling in the US Congress. This was the first scandal after Watergate to receive the-gate suffix. | [242] |
| LadyRussiagate | 2022 | A South African scandal involving the secretive docking of a sanctioned Russian cargo ship carrying military cargo at a naval base in South Africa. The United States accused South Africa of selling arms to Russia that would be used in its war with Ukraine resulting in the damaging of South African-USA bilateral relations. | [243][244] |
| Leakgate | 2015 | An Indian scandal involving the theft and sale of government documents | [245][246] |
| Lecterngate or Podiumgate | 2023 | Arkansas governorSarah Huckabee Sanders' office purchased a replica of thePresidential Falcon lectern androad case using a state-issued credit card for $19,029.25, which was reimbursed by theRepublican Party of Arkansas. Public record requests revealed the purchase to the public, and it was criticised for alleged waste and potential wrongdoing. TheArkansas General Assembly opened an audit. | [247][248][249] |
| Lettergate | 2022 | Then Prime minister of PakistanImran Khan and his government allege that theUnited States government threatened Pakistan with 'consequences' if thevote of no-confidence were to fail and Khan was to remain in office, and that 'all would be forgiven' if Khan were removed.White House Communications DirectorKate Bedingfield replied to this by saying "there is absolutely no truth to that allegation". | [250] |
| Liquorgate | 2022 | Irrelevant licensing, extensions and inviting private firms and businessmen into liquor sector, shutting away government power and grip over the retail liquor sector inNew Delhi. | [251][252] |
| Lunaticgate | 2016 | During the2016 Labour Party leadership election campaign, leadership challengerOwen Smith, in a speech to party members inHammersmith on August 23, said "What you won't get from me is some lunatic at the top of the Labour Party", commenting about incumbent LeaderJeremy Corbyn and sparking outrage from many. Though Smith later admitted that he needed to be "slightly less colourful" with his choice of language, he said that his comment was not referring to Corbyn. | [253] |
| Macacagate | 2006 | DuringGeorge Allen's reelection campaign for the2006 United States Senate election in Virginia in August, Allen referred to his opponent's aideS. R. Sidarth, who had been following him to all of his campaign stops, as a "macaca", a racial slur. Footage of this spread on YouTube and through blogs and emails, partially causing Allen's election loss from the negative publicity. | [254] |
| Mammygate | 2008 | Gloria Squitiro, wife ofKansas City MayorMark Funkhouser, allegedly called one of her secretaries "mammy". The secretary, Ruth Bates, who is black, sued the city council for discrimination. The case was settled in 2009. | [255][256] |
| Marocgate (also "Moroccogate") | 2022 | A bribery scandal involving Morocco and several members of theEuropean Parliament, closely linked to the Qatargate scandal. The allegations involve Morocco offering gifts and luxurious holidays worth up to€100,000 to influence votes and secure support forMorocco's claims over Western Sahara. | [257][258][259][260] |
| Mehrangate | 1990s | In which seniorArmy andISI (Maj. GeneralAsad Durrani, under the direction ofCOASAslam Beg) officials had withdrawn large sums of money from Mehran Bank Limited (MBL) andHabib Bank Limited (HBL) to be used in an 'intelligence fund' to fund the electoral opponents ofBenazir Bhutto and thePPP (theIJI andNawaz Sharif) before the1990 general elections. some Rs. 499 million was distributed to various politician and used to "topple" theprovincial government inNWFP. The operation had the support of then PresidentGhulam Ishaq Khan and caretaker Prime MinisterGhulam Mustafa Jatoi, while Yunus Habib of HBL was involved. Those who received money included Nawaz Sharif, Lt.-Gen. Rafaqat (of the Presidents election cell), Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi,Abdul Hafeez Pirzada,Pir Pagaro,Muhammad Khan Junejo,Jam Sadiq Ali,Altaf Hussain,[b] etc. This was revealed following the collapse of Mehran Bank and a case registered by retired Air MarshalAsghar Khan, when neither Aslam Beg or Asad Durrani continued to hold office. | [262][261][263][264] |
| Memogate (2) | 2011 | Controversy surrounding an alleged Pakistani memo seeking the help of theObama administration in the wake of theOsama bin Laden raid to prevent a military takeover in Pakistan. | [265] |
| Merriongate | 2021 | Similar to theGolfgate scandal in 2020, formerMinister for ChildrenKatherine Zappone hosted an outdoor gathering on 21 July 2021 for 50 guests, includingTánaisteLeo Varadkar, at theMerrion Hotel in Dublin during theCOVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, six days prior to her controversial appointment as an "UN special envoy" which was proposed bySimon Coveney. This resulted in widespread anger among oppositionTDs. Ultimately Zappone declined to take up the envoy role, which subsequently led to amotion of no confidence against Coveney for his handling of the affair. | [266][267] |
| Minkgate | 2020 | Theslaughter of allmink inDenmark under orders of Prime MinisterMette Frederiksen that were later revealed to have no legal basis, leading tosnap elections following threats of ano-confidence vote | [268] |
| Monicagate, Lewinskygate, Tailgate, or Sexgate ("Zippergate", "the Lewinsky scandal") | 1990s | Named afterMonica Lewinsky, who had an "inappropriate relationship" with the then-US PresidentBill Clinton. | [269] |
| Muldergate | 1979 | South African political scandal in which funds were clandestinely diverted by defence ministerConnie Mulder for overseas propaganda in support of theapartheid regime. The scandal brought about the downfall of Prime MinisterBJ Vorster. | [270] |
| Namagate | 2015 | A Northern Irish political and financial scandal in which theFirst Minister of Northern Ireland allegedly stood to benefit from the sale of a portfolio of loans and properties by theNational Asset Management Agency. | |
| Nannygate (1) | 1993 | A political controversy in the United States wherein the nomination ofZoë Baird and near-nomination ofKimba Wood for US Attorney General were withdrawn due to the hiring of illegal aliens as nannies or the failure to pay taxes for them. | [271] |
| Nannygate (2) | 2006 | Swedish scandal over the non-payment of employment taxes of nannies and obligatorytelevision fees by members ofthe Reinfeldt cabinet. | [272] |
| Nenegate | 2015 | A political controversy in South Africa following the firing ofNhlanhla Nene as Minister of Finance by then presidentJacob Zuma resulting in large scale capital flight from the country. | [273][274] |
| NISgate | 2013 | South KoreanNational Intelligence Service manipulated public opinion to promote the ruling party andPark Geun-hye. | [275] |
| Nkandlagate (1) | 2009 | South African political scandal brought to light in 2009 by theMail & Guardian regarding a multimillion-rand state-funded private home of PresidentJacob Zuma. The story became more sensitive after the release of the public protectorThuli Madonsela's report titled "Secure in comfort". The scandal drove the opposition to initiate impeachment proceedings against Zuma. | [276] |
| Nokiagate | 2022 | In May 2022, the Dutch state attorney revealed in a courtcase that Prime MinisterMark Rutte daily deleted all thetext messages on his archaicNokia mobile phone, which those he deemed important being forwarded or dictated to civil servants. This was referred to as "real-time archiving". The phone purportedly only had memory space for twenty messages. According to theCouncil of State, text messages are required by law to be stored to allow officials to be held accountable by the public. Rutte denied withholding information or breaking the law. Experts and opposition parties were critical. Amotion of no confidence failed. | [277][278][279] |
| Nueragate | 2015 | Chilean presidentMichelle Bachelet was accused of giving advantageous business deals and credits to her daughter-in-law ("nuera" in Spanish) through a position that her son also held in the government. | [280] |
| Nukegate | 2017 | A political and legal scandal which arose from the abandonment of theVirgil C. Summer nuclear expansion project inSouth Carolina bySouth Carolina Electric & Gas (a subsidiary of SCANA) and theSouth Carolina Public Service Authority (known as Santee Cooper) in 2017. It was the largest business failure in the history of South Carolina and resulted in criminal charges. | [281][282] |
| Officegate | 2001 | Scotland's First MinisterHenry McLeish resigned after it was revealed that while he was aWestminster MP between 1987 and 1998 (before the advent ofdevolution), hesublet his constituency office inGlenrothes, Fife, but failed to ensure that it was registered or that the party issued funds from the income to theHouse of Commons. | [283] |
| Oniongate | 2015 | Australian Prime MinisterTony Abbott was filmed biting into a whole onion, seemingly including its skin. | [284][285] |
| Palmargate | 2003 | The Minister of Housing and Lands resigned and was arrested twice following bribery allegations regarding the lease of state owned land on the coast line of Mauritius. It involved the use of fake contracts by notaries, lawyers and political intermediaries to extort money from a local businessman. | [286][287][288] |
| Panamagate | 2016 | Ongoing political scandals in several countries, associated with thePanama Papers, a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents thatprovide detailed information on more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service providerMossack Fonseca. In Malta,Panamagate refers to a March 2016 scandal surrounding Energy MinisterKonrad Mizzi with an undeclared trust in New Zealand and a company in Panama.[289] InPakistan, thePanama Papers case, orPanamagate case, resulted in the disqualification of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif from holding public office for 10 years.[290] | |
| Pantigate | 2014 | Controversy surrounding payments byRTÉ afterdrag queen and LGBT activistPanti accused some anti-LGBT campaigners ofhomophobia | [291] |
| Pardongate | 2001 | Controversy surroundingBill Clinton's pardons of 140 people on his last day in office asPresident of the United States, includingPatty Hearst | [292] |
| Partygate (United Kingdom) | 2021 | A political scandal surrounding social gatherings ofUnited Kingdom government andConservative Party staff that took place during theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when there werepublic health restrictions on such gatherings. Whilst severallockdowns in the country were in place, reported gatherings occurred at10 Downing Street,its garden, and other government buildings. Starting in December 2021, these attracted substantial media attention, public debate, and controversy. The scandal contributed to the downfall of Prime MinisterBoris Johnson, who was later found to have deliberately misled theHouse of Commons, a contempt of Parliament, over the affair by aprivileges committee, prompting his resignation as an MP in June 2023. | [293] |
| Partygate (Hong Kong) | 2022 | A political scandal inHong Kong involving the birthday party ofWitman Hung during theCOVID-19 pandemic | [294] |
| Pastagate | 2013 | Montreal controversy, in which an Italian restaurant was investigated by the Quebec government for using words that do not comply with their language laws, such as "bottiglia", "calamari" and "pasta". | [295] |
| Pastygate | 2012 | Controversy in March/April 2012 around the taxation by the UK Government of hot snacks such aspasties, whereConservative ministers were said to be out of touch with the eating habits of ordinary people. | [296] |
| Pemexgate | 2000 | Scandal involving the state-owned oil companyPemex in Mexico in which funds were used to support the political campaign ofCarlos Romero Deschamps, the presidential candidate for theInstitutional Revolutionary Party. | [297] |
| Penelopegate | 2017 | Revelation that French presidential candidateFrançois Fillon had officially employed his wife Penelope as an aide while a politician, but that it was a fictitious job which she never worked but nonetheless earned over €1 million in public wages. Known as both "Penelopegate" and"l'affaire Fillon" (the Fillon affair) in French. | [298][299][300] |
| Petrogate | 2008 | The name given by the press in Peru to the corruption case regarding large amounts of oil. Norwegian mining company Discover Petroleum and state-owned Perupetro were involved, which prompted the resignation of cabinet ministers. | [301] |
| Pfizergate | 2021 | Ongoingpolitical scandal centered on the lack of transparency in the communication and negotiation processes for purchasing a significant number of vaccine doses during theCOVID-19 pandemic. | [302][303] |
| 2021 | Report raising concerns over the data integrity and regulatory oversight of Pfizer vaccine trials. | [304][305] | |
| Phone call-gate | 2025 | Also called the "Thailand–Cambodia phone call leak", a 9-minute phone conversation betweenPrime Minister of ThailandPaetongtarn Shinawatra andCambodian Senate PresidentHun Sen on 15 June was leaked to about 80 Cambodian officials on 19 June. Hun (who he referred to as "uncle") published on Facebook on the entire 17-minute call on 18 June to avoid misunderstandings, while on the same day Paetongtarn (referred to as "niece") acknowledged that she was speaking in the leaked call, discussing on aims to threaten the Thailand's government in the midst of theongoing border conflict. The leak precipitated apolitical crisis following the resignation of theBhumjaithai Party from thegoverning coalition and become an opposition party, and by 1 July, Paetongtarn was suspended from office by theConstitutional Court of Thailand. On 29 August, the Constitutional Court upheld their decision and removed her from the office, and was later succeeded byBhumjaithai Party leaderAnutin Charnvirakul on 7 September. | [306][307][308][309][310][311][312][313][314] |
| Pizzagate | 2014 | Mayor of New York CityBill de Blasio dined on pizza with a fork and knife, causing a humorous reaction on the internet. | [315] |
| Plamegate (also "Leakgate", "CIA leak scandal", "Plame affair") | 2005 | The revealing, byRobert Novak, of the name ofValerie Plame.Lewis Libby allegedly leaked to the media the identity of a covert CIA agent who worked on WMDs, in retaliation for her husband,Joseph C. Wilson, criticizingGeorge W. Bush's justification for theinvasion of Iraq. | [316] |
| Ponytailgate | 2015 | A young waitress claims Prime Minister of New ZealandJohn Key pulled at her hair's ponytail numerous times over several months while visiting the café, even after being requested to stop by her and his wife. | [317][318][319] |
| Popcorngate | 2021 | Amid theCOVID-19 pandemic and an ongoing curfew related to the pandemic, Quebec premierFrançois Legault announced that movie theaters would be permitted to open in the province ahead ofMarch break. However, with much of the province in the most restrictive "red" zone, the theaters were not permitted to sell popcorn or other concessions, unless they were located in the lesser restrictive "orange" zone. Legault justified that the move was so that patrons could keep their masks on throughout the entire movie, as amask mandate had been in place in Quebec since July 18, 2020. The announcement was condemned by other MNAs as well as by movie theater mogulVincenzo Guzzo (owner ofCinémas Guzzo, a prominent Quebec movie theater chain), who has been active on Twitter throughout the pandemic criticizing the handling of the pandemic by Legault. Quebec then announced that it would compensate movie theaters for the absence of popcorn sales. Guzzo refused the money and would not open his theaters until the end of May, when the curfew was lifted. | [320][321][322] |
| Porngate | 2012 | Three members of theKarnataka Legislative Assembly in India resigned from their offices after accusations that they watched porn during government proceedings. | [323] |
| Pussygate | 2016 | On October 7, 2016,The Washington Post released a video and accompanying article aboutDonald Trump andBilly Bush having "an extremely lewd conversation about women" in 2005. In the video, Trump indicated that he might start kissing a woman that he and Bush were about to meet during the filming of an episode ofAccess Hollywood. Trump further asserted that "when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything ... grab them by the pussy". | [324][325] |
| Qatargate (1) | 2022 | Ongoingpolitical scandal in which politicians, political staffers, lobbyists, civil servants and their families are alleged to have been involved incorruption,money laundering andorganised crime involving the state ofQatar in exchange for influence at theEuropean Parliament. Qatar denies the allegations. Law enforcement authorities in Belgium, Italy and Greece seized €1.5 million in cash, confiscated computers and mobile phones, and charged four individuals with the alleged offences. | [326][327][328] |
| Qatargate (2) | 2025 | A scandal in Israel in which top aides in the office ofPrime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu were allegedly being paid by Qatar. | [329] |
| Railgate (also known as the Basi-Virk Affair and the BC Legislature Raids scandal) | 2007 | Scandal and court proceeding involving influence peddling and abuse of privilege in regard to the sale ofBC Rail toCanadian National Railways by the government of British Columbia PremierGordon Campbell, the raid of government offices in the provincial legislature building on December 28, 2003. | [330] |
| Raeesah-gate | 2021–2026 | Singaporean politicianRaeesah Khan resigned on November 30, 2021, after admitted to making unsubstantiated allegations in Parliament on three occasions. Investigations from the Parliament's Committee of Privileges referred that Khan's party, theWorkers' Party, found that its secretary-generalPritam Singh and assistant chairmanFaisal Manap had potentially misled the Parliament according to the public prosecutor. Singh was fined S$7,000 for each of the two charges he was convicted of, while Faisal was given a warning from the police. Singh lodged an appeal on 17 February 2025 after his judgement, which was later dismissed on 4 December that same year. On 15 January 2026,Prime MinisterLawrence Wong rescinds Singh's position as theLeader of the Opposition under theParliament's recommendation from amotion which was passed the day before. | [331][332][333][334][335][336][337][338][339][340] |
| Ranjangate | 2020 | A collection of audio recordings of phone calls betweenSri Lankan MPRanjan Ramanayake and several high-ranking government officials were leaked to the media. | [341] |
| Ridoutgate (also known as the Ridout Road rentals) | 2023 | Singapore-based government agencyCorrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) investigated ministersK. Shanmugam andVivian Balakrishnan on the rentals of 26 and 31 Ridout Road respectively, after a blog post was published by opposition politicianKenneth Jeyaretnam and initiated the case. Investigations were held from 23 May until 28 June, and revealed that neither ministers were convicted, with Senior MinisterTeo Chee Hean, who launched its independent review on the situation, mentioned that there was "no abuse of power or conflict of interest resulting in the ministers gaining any unfair advantage or privilege". | [342] |
| Rinkagate | 1976 | UK scandal in whichJeremy Thorpe, leader of theUK Liberal Party, lost his position and his seat in Parliament after being accused of involvement in an unsuccessful attempt to murder an alleged former gay lover. Thorpe was eventually acquitted, but the scandal and an unrelated personal illness ended his career. "Rinka" refers to aGreat Dane that was killed in the attack. | [343] |
| Robogate | 2011 | Allegations of widespread voter fraud targeting non-Conservative voters occurring during the2011 Canadian federal election. Robotic and live calls to voters are claimed to have been made in 200 ridings. Investigation by theRCMP, theConservative Party, andElections Canada. | [344] |
| Rolexgate | 2024 | Allegations of corruption involving Rolex watches and Peruvian President,Dina Boluarte. | [345][346] |
| Russiagate | 2016 | The controversy and investigations ofRussian interference in the 2016 US presidential election regarding thelinks between Trump associates and Russian officials and the Trump campaign's cooperation with that interference. | [347][348]: 943 |
| 2024 | Scandal of Russian interference in EU elections. | [349] | |
| Rywingate | 2002 | A corruption scandal inPoland, which began in late 2002 while the post-communist government of theSLD (Democratic Left Alliance) was in power. It is named after the film producerLew Rywin, who was a key figure. | [350] |
| St Louis gate or Saint Louis gate | 2020 | Corruption scandal inMauritius regarding the award of a contract for the upgrade of an existing diesel power station at St. Louis, on the outskirts of capital cityPort Louis. Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) ofDenmark was awarded the contract by the Mauritian power-generating entity Central Electricity Board (CEB) following a tender issued in 2014. A whistleblower alerted the financierAfrican Development Bank (ADB) that the award to BWSC occurred after bribes had been received by several CEB employees through an intermediary of BWSC who owns a Mauritian construction company. ADB investigated the claims and thus excluded BWSC from all future work for 21 months. Leader of OppositionArvin Boolell raised this issue in Parliament and several employees of CEB were stood down. | [351][352] |
| Salmondgate | 2018 | Scandal involving former Scottish First MinisterAlex Salmond who had been accused of sexually harassing two female aides inBute House,Edinburgh. Salmond was eventually acquitted. | [353][354] |
| Sharpiegate (distinguish from the identically namedconspiracy theory) | 2019 | Repeated assertions by US president Donald Trump, falsely claiming thatHurricane Dorian would hitAlabama, showing a map altered using ablack marker pen, and having theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publish statements in support of his claims. | [355][356] |
| Shawinigate | 1999 | Canadian scandal involving then-Prime MinisterJean Chrétien's profiting from real estate deals in his homeriding ofShawinigan, Quebec | [357] |
| Shitholegate | 2018 | During a meeting with lawmakers about immigration, President Trump is reported to have asked, "Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" | [358] |
| Signalgate | 2025 | A scandal in whichJeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the American magazineThe Atlantic, was accidentally added to aSignalgroup chat where high level US government officials used theunsecureapplication to discusssensitive military operations against the Houthis in Yemen prior to the operations taking place. | [359][360][361] |
| Sleep-gate | 2018 | Conservative MP forAyr, Carrick and Cumnock,Bill Grant was twice caught sleeping in the House of Commons. First, in December 2017, Grant appeared to have fallen asleep during a debate on pensions equality for women however, he claimed he was "listening intently". Then, in July 2018, during questions to the thenSecretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government,James Brokenshire, Grant was again caught asleep but this time admitted that he had taken "a wee nap" and was "guilty as charged". | [362][363][364] |
| Sofagate | 2021 | The event when the first femaleEU commission presidentUrsula von der Leyen had to take place on a sofa whileEU council presidentCharles Michel and Turkish presidentRecep Tayyip Erdoğan were offered seats | [365] |
| Sophiegate | 2001 | Tape of a conversation betweenSophie, Countess of Wessex andMazher Mahmood. | [366] |
| Squidgygate (also known as "Dianagate") | 1992 | Tape of a telephone conversation betweenDiana, Princess of Wales and a male friend. | [367] |
| Stickygate | 2020 | During the recount for the2020 New York's 22nd congressional district election,sticky notes used by some boards of elections to mark disputed ballots fell off and became attached to other ballots. | [368] |
| Stormontgate | 2005 | Allegations of aProvisional Irish Republican Army spy ring operating inStormont (Home to theNorthern Ireland Assembly). | [369] |
| Strippergate (Seattle) | 2003 | Two separate government scandals and criminal investigations on the West Coast of the United States, both involving state and local politicians,strip clubs andorganized crime. | [370] |
| Strippergate (Canada) | 2004-5 | Canadian federalimmigration ministerJudy Sgro was accused of providing favours to people who helped with her political campaigning during the2004 Canadian federal election. | [371] |
| Strippergate (Israel) | 2018 | Yair Netanyahu was secretly filmed at a Tel Aviv strip club, referring to a controversial gas deal signed byhis father, thePrime Minister of Israel (seeNetanyahu corruption investigations) | [372][373] |
| Swinggate | 2019 | Irish politicianMaria Bailey sued a hotel after falling off a swing while holding a drink, at a time when insurance costs were rising due to high levels of personal injury claims. | [374] |
| Tampongate (also known as "Camillagate") | 1993 | Following the release of a tape of a telephone conversation between Charles, Prince of Wales (later KingCharles III) and Camilla Parker Bowles (laterQueen Camilla). | [375][376] |
| Taxigate | 2005 | Scottish Conservative Party leaderDavid McLetchie was found to have claimed an excessive amount in taxi expenses (over £11,000) many of which were for party business rather than parliament business. The debacle resulted in McLetchie's resignation as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party. | [377] |
| Telegramgate (also known as Chatgate and RickyLeaks) | 2019 | A political scandal involvingRicardo Rosselló, Governor ofPuerto Rico, that began on July 8, 2019, with the leaking of several pages of a group chat on the messaging application Telegram. The leak came in the midst of allegations by the ex-Secretary of Puerto Rico's Treasury, Raúl Maldonado Gautier, that his department boasted an "institutional mafia" which Rosselló was involved in. | [378][379][380] |
| Thulegate | 1995 | Danish scandal regarding the storage of nuclear weapons inGreenland in the late 1950s and 1960s, in contravention of Denmark's nuclear-free policy. | [381][382] |
| Toallagate | 2001 | Scandal in Mexico due to the high cost of bathroom towels (around US$400 apiece) bought for the official residence of the Mexican president. | [383][384] |
| Traingate | 2016 | Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn filmed a short video of him sitting on the floor of a packed UK train on a three-hour journey saying he would not pay to upgrade his ticket to business class saying "after all it is the people's money". A couple of days later,Virgin Trains East Coast released CCTV footage challenging the Labour leader's claim, in which after filming the short video, Corbyn got up and sat in spare seats with his aides. The hashtag "traingate" trended highly on social media with Corbyn responding that he hoped Virgin Trains ownerRichard Branson was "well aware" of his plans to re-nationalise the railways. | [385] |
| Travelgate | 1993 | Controversy surrounding the firings of White House Travel Office employees at the start of the Clinton administration. | [386] |
| Travelgate (South Africa) | 2006 | A controversy and resulting court case in South Africa involvingBathabile Dlamini and 13 otherAfrican National Congress government ministers who pleaded guilty of fraud after claiming travel benefits amounting to R254,000. | [387][388] |
| Troopergate (1) | 1994 | Allegations by twoArkansas state troopers that they arranged sexual liaisons for then-governorBill Clinton. | [389] |
| Troopergate (2) | 2007 | Controversy involving New York GovernorEliot Spitzer, who allegedly ordered the state police to create special records of senate majority leaderJoseph Bruno's whereabouts when he traveled with police escorts in New York City. | [390] |
| Troopergate (3) | 2008 | The controversy surrounding allegations thatAlaska GovernorSarah Palin, the 2008Republican vice-presidential nominee for theUnited States presidential election, fired the state's public safety commissioner, allegedly for not cooperating with her demand that he dismiss her former brother-in-law, a state trooper. Palin used the term "Taser-gate", a reference to the allegation that the trooper used ataser on his 10-year-old stepson. | [391][392] |
| Trousergate | 2016 | Controversy following a photograph taken of then UK Prime MinisterTheresa May inThe Sunday Times in which she was wearing a pair of brown leather trousers, reportedly worth £1000. Former ConservativeSecretary of State for EducationNicky Morgan criticized May for the photo and claimed she had never spent that amount of money on anything except her wedding dress. When Morgan withdrew from her scheduled appearance onHave I Got News for You on December 16 at short notice, following an ensuing row with May's aideFiona Hill, she was replaced with a leather handbag on the show after it transpired she owned a similar bag costing £950. | [393][394] |
| Tunagate | 1985 | Canadian political scandal involving large quantities of possibly spoiledtuna that were sold to the public. | [395] |
| Ukrainegate | 2019 | A conversation betweenDonald Trump and Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyy in which an intelligence analyst who listened in on the conversation filed a whistleblower complaint that Trump was demanding that Ukraine commence an investigation ofHunter Biden (son ofJoe Biden, a potential opponent in the2020 United States presidential election), as well as unofficial clandestine diplomatic efforts byRudy Giuliani and threats to withhold Congressionally-approved military aid. | [396][397] |
| Utegate | 2009 | Australian political incident in June 2009 around the lending of autility vehicle ("ute") to Prime MinisterKevin Rudd by car dealer John Grant, and subsequent allegations of improper favorable treatment of Grant by theTreasury department. | [398][399] |
| Valijagate | 2007 | Venezuelan-American entrepreneur Guido Antonini Wilson arrived in Argentina on a private flight hired by Argentine state officials carrying US$800,000 in cash, which he failed to declare. | [400] |
| Watergate (United States) | 1972–1974 | The original "gate" scandal got its name from theWatergate Office Building, where two politically motivated burglaries took place in 1972. The Watergate scandal ultimately led to the resignation of US PresidentRichard Nixon on August 9, 1974. | [401] |
| Watergate (Australia) | 2019– | An Australian political scandal surrounding an AUD$80 million water buyback in 2017 by the federal government as part of theMurray–Darling Basin Plan. The buyback was approved byBarnaby Joyce, and the money went to a private company registered in theCayman Islands, which was co-founded byAngus Taylor. Joyce and Taylor were both government ministers and members of theNational Party. | [402] |
| Water Bottle-gate | 2013 | A media controversy wherein US SenatorMarco Rubio interrupted his rebuttal toPresident Obama'sstate of the union address to grab an offscreen bottle of water and take a drink. | [403] |
| Waterkantgate (also known asWatergate an der Waterkant) | 1987 | A major political scandal in Germany. West German politician Uwe Barschel allegedly issued orders for political rivalBjörn Engholm to be spied upon, with the aim of bringing tax evasion charges against him; as well as orders to install a bugging device in his own phone to frame Engholm's party, theSocial Democratic Party of Germany. Barschel's guilt was never proven. | [404][405] |
| Weinergate | 2011 | US RepresentativeAnthony Weiner's Twitter account linked to an inappropriate photograph. Weiner claimed that his account had beenhacked, but later admitted he sent the tweet; numerous other lewd photographs from Weiner were later revealed. In 2013, after he resigned from the House and attempted to return to politics by running for mayor of New York City, it was revealed that he had been involved in anothersexting relationship with a woman in her early twenties. | [406][407] |
| Willowgate | 1988–1989 | A corruption scandal inZimbabwe in whichThe Bulawayo Chronicle revealed illegal resale of automobile purchases by various government officials. The ensuing investigation resulted in the resignations of five members of PresidentRobert Mugabe's cabinet. One of the five,Maurice Nyagumbo, later committed suicide after being charged with perjury. The reporters who had broken the story,Geoffrey Nyarota andDavison Maruziva, were subsequently removed from their posts. | [408] |
| Vacunagate | 2021 | 487 people (mainly senior officials of the Executive Power of Peru) were irregularly vaccinated againstCOVID-19. Among these people were former presidentMartín Vizcarra and high-ranking officials of the Peruvian government such as the Minister of Foreign AffairsElizabeth Astete and the Minister of HealthPilar Mazzetti. | [409][410] |
| Omtzigtgate, Scoutinggate or Scoutsgate (Dutch:Verkenningsgate, Verkennersgate) | 2021 | In March 2021,Dutch cabinet formation scoutKajsa Ollongren left Parliament in a hurry after learning of her positive COVID-test. A photograph showed her legible notes. It read among other things: "position Omtzigt, position elsewhere" (Dutch:positie Omtzigt, functie elders).Pieter Omtzigt is a critical and rebellious MP. Ollongren and her colleague resigned shortly after. Prime Minister and party leaderMark Rutte claimed that he had not discussed Omtzigt. Documents later showed the opposite. Rutte claimed he did not remember (Dutch:Ik heb er geen actieve herinnering aan, which became a stock phrase in society). After he said he had been notified of the documents' content hours before the debate and ahead of other leaders, and refused to say by whom, an unsuccessfulmotion of no confidence was introduced. | [411] |
| Name | Year | Description | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astrogate | 2018 | In Game 1 of theMLB American League Championship between the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros, a Houston Astros employee was removed from the stadium after being caught spying on the Red Sox dugout. | [412] |
| Barçagate (1), or Bartogate | 2020 | DuringJosep Maria Bartomeu's presidency ofFutbol Club Barcelona, the club allegedly hired a social media agency which protect the president's image, and spread defamation over popular figures related to the club. These included players such asLionel Messi, ex-players likeXavi, and even high-profile political figures such asQuim Torra andCarles Puigdemont. | [413][414] |
| Bibgate | 2009 | AmericanNordic combined skierBill Demong's disqualification for not wearing hisbib during theski jumping part of the team event at theFIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009, inLiberec, Czech Republic, on February 26. | [415] |
| Bladegate | 2012 | Controversy that arose during the2012 Summer Paralympics when athleteOscar Pistorius questioned the size of therunning blade of fellow amputee sprinterAlan Oliveira on live television when the former unexpectedly caught up with Pistorius and narrowly overtook him before the finishing line at the Men's 200 metres T44 final. | [416][417][418] |
| Bloodgate | 2009 | The events surrounding a faked injury toTom Williams ofEnglishrugby union sideHarlequins in a2008–09 Heineken Cup quarterfinal against eventual championsLeinster. Specifically, Williams used fake blood to dupe the referee into allowing Harlequins to send in ablood replacement, at the instigation of Harlequins coachDean Richards and team physiotherapist Steph Brennan. Williams later admitted that his mouth had been cut open immediately after the match in an attempt to cover up the fake injury. Richards was ultimately banned from rugby for three years and Brennan for two; Williams was initially banned for one year, but his ban was reduced to four months for his role in revealing the full extent of the scheme. | [419] |
| Bottlegate | 2001 | Rowdy fans of theCleveland Browns threw beer bottles and other debris on the field after a controversially overturned call in the final minute of the game led to the Browns losing the game 15–10 to theJacksonville Jaguars. | [420][421] |
| Bountygate | 2012 | In March 2012, theNFL discovered that from2009 to2011, a number ofNew Orleans Saints players anddefensive coordinatorGregg Williams had operated a "bounty" scheme, illegal under league rules, in which defensive players received financial rewards for big plays, including those that injured offensive players. The investigation also revealed that head coachSean Payton knew about the scheme but took no steps to stop it. NFL commissionerRoger Goodell handed out multiple suspensions to coaches and players involved in the scheme. The most severe was an indefinite suspension (ultimately one year) for Williams andseason-long suspensions for Payton and playerJonathan Vilma (Vilma's suspension was overturned during the season). | [422][423][424] |
| Broomgate | 2015 | In the sport of curling, new broom head technologies led to a change in sweeping strategies, and ultimately led to standardized brush heads in competitive curling. | [425][426][427] |
| Coughgate | 2017 | Allegations that professionaldarts player and 27th seedJustin Pipe coughed in the direction of opponentBernie Smith, in order to distract and prevent Smith from throwing a match-winning double 10 during the first round of the2018 PDC World Darts Championship. Pipe was fined £3,000 and was reprimanded for the incident by the Darts Regulation Authority in January 2018. | [428][429] |
| Crashgate | 2008 | The allegations of race fixing at the2008 Singapore Grand Prix, whereRenault team bossesFlavio Briatore andPat Symonds allegedly orderedNelson Piquet Jr. to crash, handing an advantage to his teammate,Fernando Alonso. Neither driver would be punished, but Symonds and Briatore would be banned from allFIA events for five years and indefinitely respectably, although this would later be overturned. | [430][431][432] |
| Deflategate | 2015 | After the2015 AFC Championship game, theNFL acknowledged it was investigating reports that the game balls had been deflated. One report may have come fromIndianapolis Colts playerD'Qwell Jackson after he intercepted a pass byNew England Patriots quarterbackTom Brady. Patriots coachBill Belichick stated he knew nothing of the reports until the morning following the game, and that he and the team would "cooperate fully" with any investigation. Brady called the allegation "ridiculous". On January 20, sources reported that 11 of 12 footballs provided by the Patriots were underinflated. On May 11, 2015, the NFL announced it had suspended Brady without pay for 4 games of theupcoming season. The Patriots were fined $1 million and lost their first-round pick in the2016 NFL draft and their fourth-round pick in the2017 NFL draft. In September 2015 a federal judge overturned the suspension, allowing Brady to play the2015 season. A federal appeals court overturned the lower court's ruling, reimposing the suspension for 2016. | [433] |
| Doorgate | 2024 | During a World Snooker Championship match betweenRonnie O'Sullivan andStuart Bingham at theCrucible, a door was left open allowing spectators to enter. O'Sullivan complained that this was distracting him and refused to take the shot until the doors had been closed so no one could come in. Dubbed "Doorgate" by former snooker playerSteve Davis. | [434] |
| Dronegate | 2024 | An official with theCanada women's national soccer team was caught usingdrone surveillance to spy on theNew Zealand team ahead of their match in the2024 Summer Olympics | [435][436] |
| FIFA-gate | 2015 | A case of corruption and money laundering by officials and associates connected with FIFA, the governing body of association football, futsal and beach soccer. | [437] |
| Grannygate | 2006 | Arugby league scandal involvingNew Zealand players, theirfamily history and therefore theireligibility for the national team. The term was most recently invoked in the 2006Rugby League Tri-Nations series, in which New Zealand was penalized for fieldinghookerNathan Fien despite his ineligibility. | [438] |
| Handshakegate | 2025 | Used to describe theIndian cricket team's players refusal to shake hands with the players of thePakistan cricket team after a match in the2025 Asia Cup, and the subsequent controversies. | [439][440] |
| Helmetgate (1) | 2019 | At the start of the 2019-2020 NFL season, Antonio Brown's helmet was considered too old to be used. Brown initially refused to give up his old helmet and got into a prolific dispute with theOakland Raiders. After losing two grievances with the NFL, Brown eventually gave in and wore an approved helmet. | [441] |
| Helmetgate (2) | 2019 | During the Week 11 game between theCleveland Browns andPittsburgh Steelers, a brawl broke out where Browns defensive endMyles Garrett removed Steelers QuarterbackMason Rudolph's helmet and struck him in the head with it. Garrett was later suspended indefinitely and eventually reinstated after a meeting with the commissioner's office during the offseason. | [442][443] |
| Homeworkgate | 2013 | Used to describe a controversial sequence of events that took place during theAustralian cricket tour of India in 2013. | [444][445] |
| Indygate | 2005 | Seven Formula One teams pull out of the 2005 United States Grand Prix atIndianapolis Motor Speedway ("Indy") following tyre failures and the inability to come to a compromise with theFIA. | [446] |
| Liegate | 2009 | Allegations ofLewis Hamilton lying to stewards at the2009 Australian Grand Prix, where Hamilton andMcLaren told stewards another driver passed him under theSafety car illegally when McLaren had ordered Hamilton to let the other driver pass. | [447] |
| Lleytgate | 2008 | The sixth day of the2008 Australian Open featured a long, five-set match betweenWorld No. 1Roger Federer andJanko Tipsarević, which extended into the evening session of the day, and thus delayed it by more than two hours. As a result, the scheduled second match of the session betweenLleyton Hewitt andMarcos Baghdatis did not start until just before midnight Australian time, and the match, which also lasted five sets, did not finish until 4:33am local time. The second match had been delayed initially as a match betweenVenus Williams andSania Mirza had to be played out first, as per the schedule. | [448] |
| Lochtegate | 2016 | Scandal involving United States swim team membersRyan Lochte,Jimmy Feigen,Gunnar Bentz, andJack Conger during the2016 Summer Olympics held inRio de Janeiro, Brazil. While initial news stories reported that Lochte and three other US swimmers had been robbed at gunpoint after a night out in Rio, later details emerged that the "armed robbers posing as police" were actually security guards at a gas station where the swimmers had urinated outside the bathroom and Lochte allegedly vandalized a framed poster, and ended with the swimmers providing money to the guards. Some of the swimmers were detained in Brazil as witnesses. Ultimately, the athletes each released statements, and one swimmer paid a fine of approximately $10,800 to a Brazilian charity in order to get his passport back. Lochte apologized for not being more candid about the gas station dispute, and subsequently lost four major sponsorships. | [449] |
| Moggigate | 2006 | Football clubs of ItalianSerie A were involved in a referee appointment scandal, named afterJuventus general managerLuciano Moggi. | [450] |
| Monkeygate | 2008 | During the verbal altercation betweenAndrew Symonds andHarbhajan Singh in thesecond Test betweenIndia andAustralia in Sydney in 2008, the off-spinner allegedly hurled a racist abuse at Symonds, referring to him as a 'Monkey'. | [451] |
| Napgate | 2010 | In May 2010,Ken Griffey Jr., who played forMajor League Baseball (MLB)'sSeattle Mariners, was asleep in the clubhouse according to two teammates. Griffey did not deny being asleep and retired one month later. | [452][453][454] |
| Piegate | 2017 | DuringSutton United's 0–2 loss toArsenal in the 2016–17 FA Cup, Sutton United's goalkeeperWayne Shaw knowingly ate a pasty while sitting on the bench after learning of a betting company offering 8–1 odds against him eating pie during the game. Shaw defended himself by saying he did it in response to fans chanting "Who ate all the pies?" Shaw resigned from Sutton United soon after, and was fined £375 and banned for two months by theFA. | [455] |
| Pizzagate (also known as the "Battle of the Buffet") | 2004 | Manchester United managerAlex Ferguson was assaulted with a slice of pizza by an unnamed opposition player following a tumultuous league game againstArsenal. Former Arsenal playerCesc Fàbregas later admitted to throwing the pizza in 2017. | [456][457] |
| Sandpapergate | 2018 | Ball tampering scandal involving the men'sAustralian national cricket team during their2017–18 tour of South Africa. During the third Test,Cameron Bancroft was revealed by television cameras to have rubbed the cricket ball with sandpaper, with the intent to make itswing in flight.Cricket Australia later banned captainSteve Smith and vice-captainDavid Warner from all international and domestic cricket for one year for their roles in the scandal, while Bancroft received a nine-month ban. Although not involved, Australia coachDarren Lehmann resigned after the fourth Test. | [458][459][460] |
| Seatgate | 2011 | Referring to the scandal over 800 ticketed fans who were denied seats atSuper Bowl XLV due to Fire Officials' regulations. | [461] |
| Shouldergate | 1978 | A controversy that arose in June 1978 when thePittsburgh Steelers were found to have practiced in shoulder pads during an off-season period in which such drills were not allowed underNFL rules. The team was stripped of its third-round selection in the1979 NFL draft as a penalty. | [462] |
| Sirengate | 2006 | A controversial match inAustralian rules football when the umpire failed to hear the final siren, allowingSt Kilda to score an extra point and draw the match. Four days later, theAustralian Football League overturned the result and awarded the match toFremantle. | [463] |
| Skategate | 2002 | During the pairs competition at the2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, controversy brewed when Canadian skatersJamie Salé andDavid Pelletier were denied the gold medal despite a clean long program while Russian pairElena Berezhnaya andAnton Sikharulidze won the title despite making several mistakes, causing an uproar from both the Canadian and American media. It was later revealed that French judgeMarie-Reine Le Gougne had been pressured byDidier Gailhaguet, the head of the French skating federation into voting for the Russians in the pairs competition in exchange for the Russians voting for the French team in the ice dance competition. As a result, Le Gougne was suspended by the ISU for 3 years and her marks for the long program were thrown out, resulting in a 4–4 split decision. The IOC then decided to upgrade the Canadians' silver to gold, and a second medal ceremony was held with both the Russian and Canadian pairs attending. | [464] |
| Sonicsgate | 2009 | The controversial relocation of theNational Basketball Association (NBA)'sSeattle SuperSonics toOklahoma City. The creators of the Webby Award-winning 2009documentarySonicsgate coined this term as the title of their film and video series, which soon became synonymous with the scandal as the definitive historical document on the topic. | [465][466] |
| Spingate | 2013 | Near the end of the2013 Federated Auto Parts 400 race in theNASCAR Sprint Cup Series atRichmond International Raceway on September 7, 2013,team orders became an issue in order to ensure certain drivers would make theChase for the Sprint Cup.Michael Waltrip Racing driverClint Bowyer spun in turn 4 on lap 393 of 400 to bring out a caution while Michael Waltrip Racing's general manager and vice presidentTy Norris orderedBrian Vickers to pit, both in an attempt to help Michael Waltrip Racing driverMartin Truex Jr. make the Chase overRyan Newman, who was leading the race before the caution caused by Bowyer.Carl Edwards won the race and Truex made the Chase while Newman did not. A few days after the race, Michael Waltrip Racing was fined $300,000 while Bowyer and Truex both lost 50 points, enough to knock Truex out of the Chase and allow Newman to make it. In addition, it was determined thatPenske Racing andFront Row Motorsports collaborated to have Front Row Motorsports driverDavid Gilliland give up track position to ensure Penske Racing driverJoey Logano made the Chase at the expense ofHendrick Motorsports driverJeff Gordon, who was subsequently added as a 13th Chase driver. | [467] |
| Spygate (1) (also known asStepneygate) | 2007 | Allegations of espionage inFormula One racing carried out by members of theMcLaren team against theFerrari team in2007. The documents taken were given to the team by Ferrari factory workerNigel Stepney. After unrelated events at the2007 Hungarian Grand Prix launched an investigation, McLaren were disqualified from the Constructors' Championship and fined $100,000,000, however the drivers were not punished. | [468][469][470] |
| Spygate (2) | 2007 | The scandal involving theNew England Patriots' videotaping of theNew York Jets defensive signals during a2007NFL game. | [471] |
| Spygate (3) | 2017 | The scandal involving theHouston Astros using technology to steal signs from their opponents using a video camera hidden in center field during the 2017 season in which the Astros won the World Series. | [472] |
| Stickygate | 2021 | The2021 pitch doctoring controversy in Major League Baseball, referring to the sticky substances used by pitchers to enhance grip and spin. | [473] |
| Strippergate | 2015 | In October 2015, Katina Powell, a self-described formermadam, published a book in which she charged that formerUniversity of Louisvillemen's basketball stafferAndre McGee had paid her $10,000 over a four-year period, during whichthe Cardinalswon a national title, to provide strippers and prostitutes for players and recruits.[474] In June 2017, the NCAA announced major penalties that, after a failed appeal by Louisville, forced the Cardinals to vacate their 2013 national title.[475] | [476][477][478] |
| Tattoogate | 2011 | In May 2011,Jim Tressel, the head coach of theOhio State Buckeyes football team, resigned amid allegations that he lied in order to cover up activities, including tattoos, undertaken in violation ofNCAA rules by players he was coaching. | [479][480][481] |
| Tigergate | 2010 | A series of alleged and admittedmarital infidelities by golfsuperstarTiger Woods. | [482] |
| Toiletgate | 2006 | The allegations byVeselin Topalov and his managerSilvio Danailov during theWorld Chess Championship 2006 that Topalov's opponentVladimir Kramnik was visiting the toilet suspiciously frequently during games. The allegations were never proven, and were widely viewed within the international chess playing community as an act of gamesmanship on the part of Topalov and Danailov, attempting to distract Kramnik at a time when he was ahead in the match. | [483] |
| Tripgate | 2010 | During a December 11, 2010NFL game between theNew York Jets andMiami Dolphins, the Jets' strength and conditioning coachSal Alosi tripped DolphinsgunnerNolan Carroll as he ran down the Jets sideline. The Jets suspended Alosi indefinitely for setting up a "wall" on the sideline and claimed that "he acted alone in doing so". | [484] |
| Tyregate/Pirelligate | 2013 | allegations against F1 tyre supplierPirelli andMercedes carrying out illegal tyre testing during June 2013 followed by a series of tyre failures during the2013 British Grand Prix. | |
| Jeansgate | 2024 | During the2024 FIDE World Rapid Chess Championship, Norwegian grandmaster and defending championMagnus Carlsen was handed a $200 fine for wearing jeans, which violated FIDE's dress code. He was given an ultimatum to either change or not be paired in round 9 of the tournament, but would not be disqualified or be unpaired for the remaining rounds. However, Carlsen decided to resign from the tournament, which would have meant resigning from the following World Blitz Championship a few days later as well. On 29 December 2024, one day before the Blitz Championship, Carlsen and FIDE confirmed that he would still participate in this tournament, with FIDE giving him the green light to play with jeans. | [485][486][487] |
| Name | Year | Description | Country | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antennagate (also known as Gripgate) | 2010 | The name the media applied to the controversy over theAppleiPhone 4's antenna after initial users complained of dropped calls andConsumer Reports would not recommend it. | United States | [488] |
| Audiblegate | 2020 | The controversy aroundAudible secretly deducting costs of audiobook returns from rights holders even though the listener had already listened to it before returning it. | Worldwide | [489] |
| Batterygate | 2016 | Involves the implementation of performance controls on older models ofApple's iPhone line in order to preserve system stability on degraded batteries. | Worldwide | |
| Bendgate | 2014 | Numerous people reported bentAppleiPhone 6 Plus phones, which was later reported on byConsumer Reports. | United States | [490][491] |
| Bumpgate | 2008 | NvidiaGraphics Processing Unit (GPU) chips experienced high failure rates because a design flaw lead to cracked solder bumps | Worldwide | [492][493][494] |
| Chipgate | 2015 | Apple used two different kinds of processors in theiPhone 6S and 6S Plus, one made bySamsung and the other byTSMC, with the Samsung one running hotter and using more power. | United States | |
| Dieselgate (or Emissionsgate) | 2015 | International Council on Clean Transportation andWest Virginia University caughtVolkswagencheating onemissions tests on about 11 milliondiesel cars by programming them to enable emissions controls during testing, but not controlNOx pollution during real world driving | Worldwide | [495][496][497] |
| Donglegate | 2013 | At a Python Conference, a misinterpretation of the words "dongle" and "forking" led to two people being fired and aDDoS attack. | United States | [498][499] |
| Flexgate | 2019 | Some ofApple'sfourth generation MacBook Pro can feature uneven lighting at the bottom of the screen, which looks a bit like a "stage light" effect, and the display can eventually fail entirely after frequent opening and close the lid due to fragile flex cable. | Worldwide | [500][501] |
| Locationgate | 2011 | The controversy surrounding the discovery that theAppleiPhone stored location coordinates and timestamps of owner's movements in a hidden file, with a year's worth of location recorded on the phone. Led to multiple class action lawsuits, a USSenate hearing, and a mention onSouth Park. | Worldwide | [502][503][504] |
| MoFi Gate | 2022 | The controversy within theaudiophile andvinyl communities surrounding the discovery that audiophile reissue labelMobile Fidelity Sound Lab was pressing records using digital masters, despite implying in their marketing that they were using all-analogue sources. | Worldwide | [505][506] |
| Notegate | 2016 | Lithium-ion batteries spontaneously combusting inSamsung'sGalaxy Note 7. | Worldwide | [507] |
| Pengate | 2015 | Anger overSamsung's design flaw in theGalaxy Note 5 which allows the stylus to be put in backwards. Once the stylus was put in backwards, it got stuck and destroyed the sensors that detected stylus removal. | United States | [508] |
| Petrikgate | 2009–2012 | An attempt by the Russian pseudoscientistViktor Petrik and the politicianBoris Gryzlov to get a contract for a massive amount of low quality water filters at an inflated price under the guise of cutting-edge new technology. (see Russian article:Петрикгейт) | Russia | |
| Rapidgate (and Coldgate) | 2018 | A phenomenon in therapid charging (DC Fast Charging, Supercharging) of a few electric car models (especiallyNissan Leaf 2nd generation) where the charging speed is greatly reduced due to high battery temperatures after the first or second rapid charge. This causes much longer charging stops on long road trips. Most other cars have cooling systems and are not affected. Also, in low temperatures, Lithium Ion batteries would be damaged if charged too fast. Most cars can heat up their battery, either from the grid when plugged in, or even from the battery itself when a charging stop is planned. | Worldwide | [509] |
| Radeongate | 2011 | In 2011 15" and 17" MacBook Pro models, the AMD Radeon HD 6000M series graphics processing units (GPUs) were prone to catastrophically failing due to poor usage of lead-free solder, as well as poor thermal design being implemented into the laptops. | Worldwide | [510] |
| Resolutiongate | 2013 | A controversy about the resolution on theXbox One console. | Worldwide | [511] |
| Shirtgate | 2014 | Matt Taylor, aRosetta mission project scientist, wore a homemade shirt at anESA press conference that caused concern. | United States | [512][513] |
| Staingate | 2015 | Anger over reports that the anti-reflective coating appeared to be wearing off severalAppleMacBook Pros, including mid-2012 to mid-2014 models sold between June 2012 and present. | United States | [514][515] |
| Webcamgate | 2010 | Lower Merion School District allegedly do surveillance by using student'sAppleMacBooks | United States | [516][517] |
| Name | Year | Description | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buttergate | 2020–2021 | In February 2021, reports emerged regarding industry-wide changes in the consistency of Canadian-producedbutter, which softened at a slower pace at room temperature than before. It was speculated that the increased use ofpalm oil orpalmitic acid in feed by dairy farmers to help meet demand may have had an impact on the resulting butter products. | [518][519] |
| Fartgate (United States) | 2019 | In November 2019 US RepresentativeEric Swalwell (D-CA) appeared onMSNBC'sHardball, when a fart sound "ripped through the airwaves". Swalwell denied the allegations, writing "It was not me!!!!!" toBuzzFeed News in a text. The show later attempted to explain away the sound, claiming "it was the #hardball mug scraping across the desk". | [520][521] |
| Flossgate | 2016 | A scandal when the 2015 United StatesDietary Guidelines for Americans[522] did not include a recommendation aboutflossing. | [523] |
| Horsegate (also "Horsemeat-gate") | 2013 | A UK scandal in which it emerged that several large supermarket chains were selling meat containing horse or equine meat while claiming they were "100% beef". Further context to this is that, while horsemeat is mostly fine for human consumption and is eaten in countries throughout Europe and the rest of the world, it is rarely sold on the mainstream UK market and is considered somewhat culturally unacceptable to eat in British society. | [524] |
| Monkeygate | 2018 | The controversy after it was revealed thatVolkswagen had experimented on monkeys to prove thatdiesel exhaust was not harmful to primates. | [525] |
| Nutellagate | 2013 | A controversy atColumbia University surrounding allegations of widespreadNutella theft that cost the university $5,000 per week. | [526] |
| Nutgate | 2014 | Korean Air vice president Heather Cho, dissatisfied with the way a flight attendant served her nuts on a plane, ordered the aircraft to return to the gate before takeoff, before dismissing the flight attendant and cabin crew chief. She was arrested two months later and charged with interfering with flight safety. The crew members eventually returned to their positions. | [527] |
| Smooshgate | 2018 | A proposal for a JavaScript language feature called Array.prototype.flatten turns out to be Web-incompatible. The proposal author jokingly suggested renaming flatten to smoosh to avoid the compatibility issue. The joke was not clear to everyone, some people started to incorrectly believe that the new name had already been decided, and things escalated quickly. | [528] |
These conspiracy theories have been given the-gate suffix by both supporters and critics of them.
| Name | Year | Description | Country | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italygate | 2020–present | Allegations that the2020 United States presidential election was rigged inJoe Biden's favor by switching votes fromDonald Trump to Biden at theUS Embassy in Rome. | United States | [529] |
| Kategate | 2024 | Speculation and gossip concerned withCatherine, Princess of Wales prior to the public announcement of hercancer diagnosis. | United Kingdom | [530][531] |
| Obamagate | 2020 | Used by PresidentDonald Trump as a nickname for unsubstantiated claims that his predecessorBarack Obama had spied on his incoming administration. | United States | [532] |
| Pencilgate | 2016 | Allegations that the use of pencils in UK voting stations in the lead-up tothe EU membership referendum allowed forMI5 to erase the results ofBrexit voters. This led to the hashtags #Usepens and #Pencilgate on social media in the UK. | United Kingdom | [533][534] |
| Piggate | 2015 | The name given to the accusationLord Ashcroft made against British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron, of performing a ritual in which he engaged in sexual acts with a dead pig's head. | United Kingdom | [535] |
| Pizzagate | 2016–present | In reference to an alleged child-sex trafficking ring run by high-rankingDemocratic Party officials out of the basement of a pizza restaurant. | United States | [536] |
| Sharpiegate (distinguish from the identically namedpolitical controversy) | 2020 | Allegations that the use of marker pens invalidated ballots in the2020 United States presidential election in the state ofArizona. | United States | [537][538] |
| Spygate | 2018 | Aconspiracy theory initiated by PresidentDonald Trump in May 2018 that theObama administration had put aspy inhis 2016 presidential campaign for political purposes. | United States | [539] |
The suffix has also been commonly used in the context of popular media, including satirical usage by television pundits and viewers of reality shows.
| Name | Year | Description | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dressgate | 2015 | Debate over whether a popular photograph depicted a blue-and-black dress or a white-and-gold one. | [540] |
| Name | Show | Episode | Description | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bingate | The Great British Bake Off[541] | Series 5, Episode 4: "Desserts" | The ice cream in contestant Iain'sbaked Alaska did not set and he threw his baked Alaska in the bin and walked off the set. The editing suggested another contestant Diana Beard was responsible for this. Later, when the contestants had to present their bakes to the judges, Iain presented the bin in which he had discarded his baked Alaska. He was eliminated, with the judges saying they could not judge him due to him not presenting them with anything to taste. | [542] |
| Butterflygate | RuPaul's Drag Race | Season 10, Episode 14: "Grand Finale" | FinalistAsia O'Hara attempts a revelation during her lip sync using live butterflies, but it does not go as intended | [543] |
| Clipgate | The Colbert Report | Stephen Colbert's mocking ofFox News Channel's portrayal of the wayBarack Obama presented hisjobs bill proposal with pages clipped together, rather than bound together. | [544][545] | |
| Flatgate | The Thick of It | Government minister Hugh Abbot is involved in a scandal surrounding the ownership of a Notting Hill flat – which the press are dubbing "Flatgate", but which Abbot's secretary feels would better be named "Notting Hill Gate gate". | [546] | |
| Kimono-gate | RuPaul's Drag Race | Season 8, Episode 5: "Supermodel Snatch Game" | Half of the remaining queens came out on stage in akimono, inspired byMadonna's "Nothing Really Matters" video and "Paradise (Not For Me)" for a Madonna-inspired runway. | [547][548][549] |
| Manorgate | The Hunt | Athena and several of her friends send texts to each other about hunting people for sport. The texts were satirical but people dubbed the controversy "Manorgate" and believed that they were actually hunting people. In response, Athena and her friends decide to make Manorgate a reality by actually hunting people for sport. | [550] | |
| Maskgate | RuPaul's Drag Race | Season 9, Episode 9: "Your Pilot's On Fire" | The contestantValentina initially refuses to remove her mask during the "lip sync for your life". This incident was referred to as "Maskgate" by viewers. | [551][552][553] |
| Muffgate | Pitch Perfect | Pitch Perfect 2 | A cappella singing group The Barden Bellas are performing forPresident Obama at theKennedy Centre whenFat Amy descends from the rafters in Cirque du Soleil-like trapeze silks as if to perform an acrobatic sequence à la Pink while performingWrecking Ball. Unfortunately, the silks rip, Amy's pants split, she flips upside down, and she delivers a wardrobe-malfunction that comes to be referred to as "Muffgate". | [554][555] |
| Notegate | The Traitors US | Season 1, Episode 3: 'Murder They Wrote' | In Episode 3 just before the round table, Brandi (who was banished) and Kate discussed who is a traitor, in which they discussed the possibility of Shelbe and Amanda being The Traitors next target Shelbe's name was crossed out and after the round table in which Brandi was banished Anjelica found the note and shared it Cirie who revealed it to a small group of the remaining contestants Cirie dubbed it "Notegate" | |
| Pantygate | The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills | Season 7, Episode 4: "Pantygate" | New housewife Dorit Kemsley and her husbandPaulpass judgments onErika Girardi's decision not to wear underwear to a party with the housewives. | [556][557] |
| Punchgate | Celebrity Big Brother (UK) | Series 22 | Roxanne Pallett accused fellow housemateRyan Thomas of deliberately and repeatedly punching her; she was criticized for over exaggerating the light play fighting and has since called it a "horrible mistake" after leaving the house and seeing the footage. | [558][559][560] |
| Sharongate | EastEnders | Sharon (Letitia Dean) confessed on tape that she had slept withPhil (Steve McFadden), the brother of her husbandGrant (Ross Kemp). | [561][562] | |
| Stargate | Community | "Contemporary American Poultry" | A newspaper uses the name in a headline after the character Star-Burns is accused of controlling a chicken finger-laundering scandal. The newspaper also clarifies that the title is a reference to Watergate, not the 1994 filmStargate. | [563] |
| Strawberry-Gate | I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! | UK series 17, Episode 11 | ContestantsAmir Khan andIain Lee won the Dingo Dollar challenge receiving the opportunity for a reward; Chocolate coins or Strawberries & cream. Their campmates got the question right, and Amir and Iain were given Strawberries & cream. However, while returning to camp, they decided to eat the treat and pretend that the camp got the question wrong. | [564] |
| "Stupid Watergate" | Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | Season 4, Episode 13 and Season 5, Episode 14 | A recurring segment called "Stupid Watergate" is concerned with the appearance ofRussian interference in the 2016 United States elections and resulting coverups. It is called "Stupid Watergate" because, according to Oliver, it is "a scandal with all the potential ramifications ofWatergate, but where everyone involved is stupid and bad at everything".[565] | [566][567] |
| Tullegate | RuPaul's Drag Race | Season 3, Episode 11: "RuPaul's Hair Extravaganza" | The contestantRaja usedtulle fabric in a challenge in which all the contestants had to design an outfit only using hair and wigs. This was alleged by other competitorsShangela,Alexis Mateo, andYara Sofia, before Raja confirmed it on an episode ofUntucked. In theDrag Race fan community, many fans refer to this as Tullegate. | [568][569][570] |
| Waitergate | The Simpsons | "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" | A court case surrounding a waiter who appeared to have been beaten by Freddy Quimby is named by the press as 'Beat-Up Waiter'. AnchormanKent Brockman says he suggested calling the story 'Waitergate', but was "shouted down at the press club". | [571] |
| Watergategate | That Mitchell and Webb Look | S01E02 | Webb's character points out in one sketch that the original scandal that resulted in Nixon's resignation should actually be referred to retroactively as "Watergategate" as the popularisation of the-gate suffix means that "Watergate" should logically be reserved for a scandal involving water. | [572] |
| Wiggate | RuPaul's Drag Race | Season 11: Episode 6 "The Draglympics", Episode 11 "Bring Back My Queens!" | Some of the remaining contestants fight overAriel Versace's wigs which were left on set. | [573][574][575] |
All these gates are examples of a snowclone, a type of clichéd phrase defined by the linguist Geoffrey Pullum as 'a multi-use, customisable, instantly recognisable, timeworn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants'. Examples of a typical snowclone are: grey is the new black, comedy is the new rock'n'roll, Barnsley is the new Naples, and so on.
Xgate as a snowclone? Not quite. I see the conceptual similarity, but the very words he quotes show that I originally defined the concept (in this post) as a phrase or sentence template. TheXgate frame is a lexical word-formation analog of it, an extension of the concept from syntax into derivational morphology.
In the segment, which aired May 30, 2018, Bee derided Ivanka Trump's choice to post a photo of herself posing with her infant son as the Trump administration's family-separation policy caused turmoil at the border. "You know, Ivanka, that's a beautiful photo of you and your child," Bee said on the show, "but let me just say, one mother to another: Do something about your dad's immigration practices, you feckless cunt!"
Something shady (but also not-so-shady) is afoot.
"Outdated laws limit penalties the city can issue," writes L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia
As the Brothelgate crisis deepened, members of the parliamentary party scrambled to see if Willie O'Dea's promised vindication would be contained in the pages of the paper's country edition.
More revelations are forthcoming in what is now billed as "Floodgate" in reference to its American version, the Watergate scandal, that led to the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in 1974.
M. Roudani, spécialiste des relations internationales, a fait observer que le limogeage de la ministre espagnole des affaires étrangères, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, suite au large remaniement ministériel opéré samedi, a été précipité par la gestion catastrophique de l'affaire "GhaliGate".
Le « GhaliGate » a laissé également des traces sur la relation avec Madrid, estime ce spécialiste français en défense et sécurité.
The scandal, dubbed "Iraqgate" by local media, took a new turn when Jaatteenmaki spoke to a full parliament saying she had not actively sought the secret documents.
Jurmalgate (Latvian: Jūrmalgeita) is a label that combines two words:Jurmala and-gate (following Watergate). This label has been given to the attempt to corrupt the process of selecting the mayor of Jurmala, a wealthy sea-side resort in Latvia.
"Jurmalgate" – The scandal involved attempts by politicians and business people to bribe a critical swing vote in the 2005 election of the Jurmala city mayor.
Nazarbayev spoke publicly about the case – dubbed Kazakhgate – only once, and dismissed allegations of his involvement as "insinuations and a provocation
The firing of seven members of the White House travel office in 1993, possibly to make room for Clinton friends – Followed by an FBI investigation of the office, allegedly opened under pressure from the White House to justify the firings. Sometimes called "Travelgate".
What became known as "Tunagate" erupts after this Fifth Estate report airs on 17 September 1985. The CBC's Eric Malling reveals that Progressive Conservative Fisheries Minister John Fraser had knowingly approved a million cans of rancid Star-Kist tuna for sale.
The ongoing Louisville "Strippergate" major NCAA investigation was back in the news this week as the NCAA Enforcement Staff fired back at the University of Louisville's and head men's basketball coach Rick Pitino.
And yet the cumulative effect of sordid events, from the Karen Sypher extortion case to "Strippergate" to the possibility of Louisville becoming the first school forced to take down a championship banner to the most recent allegations of recruiting violations by a staff member, became far too much to bear.
[Tom] Jurich refused to fire Pitino despite a string of public embarrassments, including Pitino's affair with a woman who was later sent to prison for trying to extort him, and "Strippergate", in which a Pitino assistant coach, over a period of four years, brought in dancers and prostitutes to entertain recruits at a university dorm.
Dobreva, Diyana; Grinnell, Daniel; Innes, Martin (May 6, 2019)."Prophets and Loss: How "Soft Facts" on Social Media Influenced the Brexit Campaign and Social Reactions to the Murder of Jo Cox MP".Policy & Internet.12 (2):144–164.doi:10.1002/poi3.203.It may have been difficult to watch, butButterflyGate, as it's come to be known online, is unlikely to define Asia.
But in truth, Asia's problems started long beforebutterfly-gate.
Aquaria went on to win the final after a three-way lip sync battle for the crown, but to be honest we never truly recovered frombutterfly-gate.
And then she threw the sponge into the audience and we hadbutterflygate.
Luckily, they all fare pretty well in the second half of the challenge, so we are not treated to a meat-dress rehash of season eight'skimono-gate.
It was'kimono-gate' all over again.
This week, the runway was dedicated to re-doing 'Night of 1000 Madonnas' since last season's run incited'kimono-gate,' where four queens all were wearing kimono Madonna looks.
#MaskGate is shocking and, well, damn good TV. But beyond the inevitable social media firestorm that#MaskGate will stir up, it brings up general issues surrounding RPDR as a show and cultural influence.
That's the question that hadDrag Race fans tweeting about#Maskgate.
Withtullegate resolved, the queens moved on to talk about some family matters.
I'm glad cardboard-gate didn't turn intotulle-gate 2.0
Tullegate aside, we were really feeling Raja on this particular episode!
Vanjie tries to steer Ariel back on track, but this is not the last the audience will hear aboutWig-gate 2019.
All we learned fromWigGate is that even the most ridiculous nonstories can lead to a good sound bite
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