List of -gate scandals and controversies

This is a list of actual or alleged scandals named with a "-gate" suffix, by analogy with the Watergate scandal.

Etymology, usage, and history of -gate

The suffix -gate derives from the Watergate scandal of the United States in the early 1970s, which resulted in the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon. Note that Watergate itself does not meet the -gate construction rule, as the scandal was named after the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.; the complex itself was named after the "Water Gate" area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 1935 and 1965.

However, in 18th century Ireland, Richard Barry, 7th Earl of Barrymore was nicknamed "Hellgate", and his siblings Henry, Augustus and Carolina were nicknamed Cripplegate, Newgate and Billingsgate respectively, due to their scandalous behaviour. All of these nicknames, except for "Hellgate", were after gates in the walls of the City of London.

The suffix is used to embellish a noun or name to suggest the existence of a far-reaching scandal. As a CBC News Online column noted in 2001, the term may "suggest unethical behaviour and a cover-up". The same usage has spread into languages other than English; examples of -gate being used to refer to local political scandals have been reported from Germany, Hungary, Greece and the former Yugoslavia. Such usages have been criticised by commentators as clichéd and misleading; 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 presidential corruption." Stanyer links the widespread use of -gate to what the sociologist John 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.

The adoption of -gate to suggest the existence of a scandal was promoted by William Safire, the conservative New York Times columnist and former Nixon administration speechwriter. As early as September 1974 he wrote of "Vietgate", a proposed pardon of the Watergate criminals and Vietnam War draft dodgers. Subsequently he coined numerous -gate terms, including Billygate, 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 and Whitewatergate. The New York magazine suggested that his aim in doing so was "rehabilitating Nixon by relentlessly tarring his successors with the same rhetorical brush – diminished guilt by association." Safire himself later admitted to author Eric Alterman that, as Alterman puts it, "psychologically, he may have been seeking to minimize the relative importance of the crimes committed by his former boss with this silliness."

Widely recognized scandals with a -gate suffix

• Angelgate, concerning allegations of price fixing and collusion among angel investors in Silicon Valley, California
• Angolagate (Mitterrand-Pasqua affair), about arms sales to the Government of Angola by the Government of France in the 1990s.
• Antennagate (Apple iPhone 4 antenna "coverup"), about loss of signal strength on the Apple Inc. iPhone 4. Consumers reported that when the phone was held a certain way it would drop calls. Reports suggested an Apple engineer noted the problem to Steve Jobs prior to production. Publicly, Apple suggested the problem was due to user handling, then offered a software fix for a known signal strength misrepresentation, followed by a free bumper to insulate the iPhone4 antenna.
• Baftagate — Controversy surrounding votes at the 1991 BAFTA television awards.
• Bandargate — A political scandal in Bahrain surrounding attempts by government officials to rig the parliamentary elections and politically marginalize the Shia population.
• Barkhagate — The Radia tapes controversy relates to the telephonic conversations between Nira Radia, a professional lobbyist and an acquaintance of the (then) Indian telecom minister A. Raja, with senior journalists including Barkha Dutt, the editor with NDTV, politicians, and corporate houses, taped by the Indian Income Tax Department in 2008-09. The tapes led to accusations of misconduct by many of these people. Nira Radia runs a public relations firm named Vaishnavi Communications, whose clients include Ratan Tata's Tata Group and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.
• Bertiegate — Controversy surrounding Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach of Ireland, concerning large cash lodgements made into his bank account while Minister for Finance.
• Betsygate — Allegations that former United Kingdom Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith had put his wife Betsy on his payroll, without her actually doing any work.
• Bibgate – American Nordic combined skier Bill Demong's disqualification for not wearing his bib during the ski jumping part of the team event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic on 26 February.
• Bigotgate – occurred on 28 April 2010 when a Sky News microphone picked up British Prime Minister Gordon Brown describing Rochdale resident Gillian Duffy as a "bigoted woman" while campaigning for the 2010 UK General Election.
• Billygate — U.S. President Jimmy Carter's brother, Billy Carter, legally represented the Libyan government as a foreign agent.
• Bingogate — A scandal that occurred during the administration of former Premier of British Columbia Michael Harcourt, involving the skimming of charity funds for use by the ruling NDP by MLA Dave Stupich (Premier Harcourt was not involved but did resign).
• Biscuitgate — Media controversy over then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's reluctance to declare his "favourite biscuit".
• Blagogate – In December 2008, Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich allegedly attempted to sell the United States Senate seat of recently elected President Obama, to which he had the right of appointment.
• Bloodgate – The events surrounding a faked injury to Tom Williams of English rugby union side Harlequins in a 2008–09 Heineken Cup quarterfinal against eventual champions Leinster. Specifically, Williams used fake blood to dupe the referee into allowing Quins to send in a blood replacement, at the instigation of Quins coach Dean Richards and team physiotherapist Steph Brennan, and 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.
• Bonusgate – 2008 political scandal in Pennsylvania involving the alleged use of government funds to finance partisan political campaigns.
• Boobgate (1) - See Nipplegate below
• Boobgate (2) - a false rumor spread in 2010 about Sarah Palin having breast implants
• Brothelgate - the series of events that lead to the resignation of the Irish Minister of Defence Wille O'Dea.
• Cablegate - In November 2010 , Wikileaks released more than 250,000 American diplomatic cables.
• Camillagate — Tape of a telephone conversation between Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker-Bowles
• Chalkgate — In November 2010, University College London management framed a peaceful student occupation against fees and cuts with chalk graffiti on the walls of the historic university buildings.
• Cheriegate — Concerning Cherie Blair's association with Carole Caplin, and through her to the convicted fraudster Peter Foster.
• Chicanegate — Regarding McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and his cutting of the Bus Stop-chicane during a fight for race position with Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen to win the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix, and the subsequent penalty which stripped Hamilton of the win.
• Ciscogate — Controversy at Black Hat involving the release of information on security holes in Cisco routers by security specialist Michael Lynn.
• Climategate — A term used by some to refer to the hacking of a computer server used by the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia. Thousands of e-mails and other documents stolen and released into the public domain. Based on these documents, allegations were made that some scientists involved in climate change research have falsified data to support their theories, and destroyed data that refutes them.These allegations were later shown to be completely unsubstantiated. Other allegations, most outstandingly a lack of openness, have been confirmed by subsequent independent reviews.The inquiry found "emails might have been deleted in order to make them unavailable should a subsequent request be made for them" and that there had been "a consistent pattern of failing to display the proper degree of openness".
• Closetgate — The controversy that erupted following the broadcast of the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet", a satirical parody of the Church of Scientology and some of its famous adherents, such as Tom Cruise.
• Coingate — The mishandling of Ohio government funds entrusted to Ohio Republican Party operatives, involving rare coin funds
• Corkgate - A name given by the 2003 version of ESPN The Magazine top 100 sports stories of that year in which one of the stories talked about Chicago Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa getting caught for using a corked bat against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
• Corngate — A political scandal in New Zealand in 2002, which involved the suspected release of genetically modified corn seed in 2000.
• Crashgate — Sporting scandal in Formula One in which the Renault team were charged with racefixing after their driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. alleged he was asked by the team boss to crash his car to help teammate Fernando Alonso to win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
• Debategate — A political scandal in the United States involving the suspicious acquisition of debate preparation documents in 1980.
• Dianagate — Original name of Squidgygate.
• Donnygate — A political scandal in Doncaster, UK in 1998 involving local government expense fraud
• Duna-gate — A political scandal in Hungary in 1990, with the communist regime's secret service illegally collecting information on opposition parties.
• Fallagate — 2007 political scandal in Guernsey over an attempt to avoid a political conflict of interest over a hospital extension plan.
• Fajitagate — In November 2002, three off-duty San Francisco police officers allegedly assaulted two civilians over a bag of steak fajitas (which were mistaken as drugs), leading to the arrest of the chief of police.
• Filegate — The illegal possession and scrutiny of 300–900 FBI files by the Clinton Administration without the file's subject's permission.
• Flakegate – Photographs of the wedding reception of TV presenter Anthea Turner was used to promote Cadbury's new chocolate bar, Snowflake despite being paid £450,000 by OK! magazine for the exclusive deal of the wedding itself. The publicity stunt was widely criticised by tabloid press and took further damage to her career, which have yet to recover since.
• GateCrasherGate – the 2009 incident where Michaele and Tareq Salahi gate-crashed the White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, causing an embarrassing security lapse for the United States Secret Service.
• Gerstmanngate — When Editorial Director Jeff Gerstmann was fired from his job after giving a poor review to Kane and Lynch. The controversy was whether pressure from Eidos Interactive resulted in his termination.
• Grannygate (1) — A rugby league scandal involving New Zealand players and their family history. The term was most recently invoked in the 2006 Rugby League Tri-Nations series, in which New Zealand was penalised for fielding former Queensland hooker Nathan Fien.
• Grannygate (2) – Controversy surrounding Stephen Ireland, a Republic of Ireland football player, who claimed that his grandmother had died in order to secure a leave of absence from international duty.
• Greasegate – Controversy surrounding Georges St-Pierre, a Canadian MMA fighter, who was seen have Vaseline inappropriately applied to his body, by his corner men, in order to gain an advantage over his opponent, BJ Penn, at UFC 94.
• Hansiegate – Scandal in 2000 involving Hansie Cronje and several other cricketers from South Africa and the Indian subcontinent who were accused of accepting money from bookmakers to fix the results of cricket matches.
• Henrygate — Controversy surrounding a handball by the French captain Thierry Henry, playing against the Republic of Ireland during the playoff for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
• Hot Coffeegate – Nickname for the Hot Coffee minigame controversy, a series of legal actions taken against the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
• IPLgate – The controversy involving the Indian Premier League in 2010.
• Indygate — Seven Formula One teams pull out of the 2005 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway ("Indy") following tire failures and the inability to come to a compromise with the FIA.
• Irangate or Contragate (also referred to as the Iran-Contra Affair) — The Reagan Administration sold weapons to Iran and diverted the proceeds to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• Iraqgate — A Finnish scandal involving the leaking of secret documents to Anneli Jäätteenmäki, which helped bring down Paavo Lipponen's government. Later, it also brought down Jäätteenmäki's government.
• Irisgate, a 2010 political scandal involving an affair by Iris Robinson MP MLA, wife of Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson.
• Jerezgate — McLaren and Williams were accused by Ferrari of collusion in an effort to prevent Ferrari winning the 1997 European Grand Prix based on tape recording of the radio transmissions made by the two teams.
• Kanyegate — Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, saying Beyoncé had "one of the best videos of all time" with "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)"
• Katrinagate (also "FEMAgate") — Used by people who disapproved of government response to Hurricane Katrina.
• Kazakhgate — Scandal surrounding James Giffen, an American businessman and former advisor of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the president of Kazakhstan, who paid $78 million in bribes to high-level Kazakhstani officials to secure the oil contracts for Western companies in the 1990s.
• Ketchupgate- Controversy during the Reagan administration about a proposal that would have reclassified ketchup as a vegetable.
• Koreagate – A 1976 scandal involving South Korean influence peddling in the U. S. Congress. This was the first scandal after Watergate to receive the -gate suffix.
• Liegate – McLaren and Lewis Hamilton mislead the FIA Stewards of the Meeting at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix when they were asked if Lewis Hamilton was told by the team to let Toyota driver Jarno Trulli past again after the former overtook the latter when he went off the road under a Safety Car period.
• Mabelgate – The name given to the commotion around the dubious past of princess-to-be Mabel Wisse Smit, fiancé of Prince Johan-Friso of the Netherlands
• Macacagate – Virginia Senator George Allen's use of the racial slur "macaca" to refer to S.R. Sidarth, a member of opponent Jim Webb's campaign.
• Maidgate - Meg Whitman, a 2010 candidate for Governor of California, hiring of an undocumented worker for household work.
• Manuelgate (also "Sachsgate") – The name given to the controversy surrounding the BBC radio presenters Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross after leaving a rude message on the answerphone of veteran actor and Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs for Brand's Radio 2 show; it resulted in thousands of complaints, Brand's resignation from his show, and a 12-week suspension from the BBC for Ross.
• Memogate – (See "Rathergate") The scandal over a forged memo about George W. Bush's military record that ultimately led to the removal of Dan Rather from his host as anchor at CBS News.
• Monicagate, Lewinskygate, Tailgate, or Sexgate ("Zippergate", "the Lewinsky scandal") — named after Monica Lewinsky who had an "inappropriate relationship" with the then-U.S. President Bill Clinton.
• Monkeygate – the controversy that resulted when Harbhajan Singh, the Indian off spin bowler, allegedly called Australian batsman Andrew Symonds a "monkey" during the controversial Sydney Test match in January 2008.
• Muldergate — South African political scandal of the late 1970s in which funds were clandestinely diverted by defence minister Connie Mulder for overseas propaganda in support of the apartheid regime. The scandal brought about the downfall of BJ Vorster.
• NAFTAgate — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Chief of Staff Ian Brodie revealed to the media a document leak revealing that the Canadian government should not worry about U.S. Presidential candidate Barack Obama's anti-North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) rhetoric.
• Nannygate (1) — a 1993 political controversy in the United States wherein the nomination of Zoë Baird and near-nomination of Kimba Wood for U.S. Attorney General were withdrawn due to the hiring of illegal aliens as nannies or the failure to pay taxes for them.
• Nannygate (2) — The 2006 scandal over the non-payment of employment taxes of nannies and obligatory television fees by members of the Reinfeldt cabinet.
• Nipplegate — Justin Timberlake reveals Janet Jackson's nipple during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII.
• Noemigate – Events surrounding Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi relationship with teenager Noemi Letizia.
• Officegate – In 2001, First Minister of Scotland Henry McLeish resigned after it was revealed that, while a Westminster Member of Parliament between 1987 and 1998 (before the advent of devolution), he sublet his constituency office in Glenrothes, Fife, but failed to ensure that it was registered or that the party issued funds from the income to the House of Commons.
• Ovalgate – In 2006, The Pakistan National Cricket team refused to rejoin the game after tea in protest at being accused of ball tampering.
• Paintergate — Occurred in 2002 when it was revealed that New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark had signed a piece of art which she did not paint.
• Page-gate - Congressmember Mark Foley's sexually suggestive instant messages to his congressional pages.
• Paragate — Several Colombian congressmen and other politicians indicted for suspicions of colluding with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and other paramilitary groups involved in Colombia's forty-year armed conflict
• Partgate — NASCAR team owner Jack Roush accuses fellow team Michael Waltrip Racing of stealing a sway bar at a test session. Waltrip later admits they had the part, but it was taken accidentally.
• Pedalgate — 2009–2010 Toyota vehicle recalls due to mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal.
• Pemexgate — Scandal involving state-owned oil company Pemex in Mexico in which funds were used to support a political campaign of the presidential candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party in the year 2000.
• Peppergate — Pepper-spraying of peace demonstrators by the RCMP during an APEC summit in Vancouver in November 1997.
• Petrogate — The name given to the press in Peru to the corruption case involving lots of oil, where Norway mining company Discover Petroleum and Peruvian State owned Perupetro are involved, which shocked the policy in Peru, and prompted the resignation of cabinet ministers.
• Picturegate — An incident on the 2008 edition of the British reality TV show Big Brother, in which contestants got involved in an argument which ended with one contestant being spat on, resulting in an immediate expulsion of a contestant.
• Pinotgate — a scandal arising in 2010 over the passing off of French Merlot and Syrah wine in 2006 through 2008 as Pinot Noir.
• Piñeragate — political espionage and eavesdropping involving now President of Chile Sebastián Piñera
• Plamegate (also "Leakgate", "CIA leak scandal", "Plame affair") — The revealing, by Robert Novak, of the name of Valerie 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, criticizing George W. Bush's justification for the invasion of Iraq.
• Portraitgate – Two oil paintings depicting Brian Cowen, Taoiseach (prime minister) of Ireland, in the nude, were briefly displayed in Dublin art galleries in March 2009 as an act of guerilla art.
• Railgate, also known as the Basi-Virk Affair and the BC Legislature Raids scandal, an ongoing scandal and court proceeding involving influence peddling and abuse of privilege in regard to the sale of BC Rail to Canadian National Railways by the government of British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell), the raid of government offices in the provincial legislature building on December 28, 2003.
• Rathergate (also "Memogate") — Faxed copies of forged memos, that were presented on 60 Minutes in 2004, claimed President George W. Bush was derelict in his duty in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972.
• Reutersgate — The controversy over Reuters photographer Adnan Hajj manipulating news photos with Photoshop.
• Rinkagate — A 1976 scandal in which Jeremy Thorpe, leader of the UK 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 a Great Dane that was killed in the attack.
• Rywingate – A 2004 Polish scandal (including the prominent media mogul Lew Rywin, hence the affair's popular nickname) that led Leszek Miller's government to an end and his party's crushing defeat in the presidential and parliamentary elections in the following year.
• Sachsgate – 2008 scandal over prank phone calls to Andrew Sachs by Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand
• Sexy Photo Gate — The 2008 scandal in Hong Kong concerning illegal distribution over the Internet of intimate and private photographs of actor/singer Edison Chen with various notable celebrities, destroying the showbiz careers of all those involved.
• Shawinigate — A 1999 Canadian scandal involving then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's profiting from real estate deals in his home riding of Shawinigan, Quebec
• Shingate — 2007 scandal in South Korea in which an art history professor at Dongguk University was revealed to have forged her academic credentials, prompting a national brouhaha and a $50 million lawsuit against Yale University, which had mistakenly said that Shin actually attended the school
• Shilpagate — A controversy in which Celebrity Big Brother contestant Shilpa Shetty was bullied by other housemates on a live feed.
• Shouldergate — A controversy which arose in June 1978 when the Pittsburgh Steelers were found to have practiced in pads during an off-season period in which such drills were not allowed under NFL rules. The team was stripped of their third round selection in the 1979 NFL Draft as a penalty.
• Sirengate — A controversial match in Australian rules football when the umpire failed to hear the final siren, allowing St Kilda to score an extra point and draw the match. Four days later, the Australian Football League overturned the result and awarded the match to Fremantle.
• Skategate — During the pairs skating of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, the Russian pairing of Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze controversially was awarded gold medal, jointly with favorites, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, despite a minor (but obvious) technical error in the former's routine.
• Smeargate – The scandal brought to light in April 2009 by the publishing of secret 'smear campaign' plans made by members of the UK Labour government aimed at tarnishing several Conservative MPs careers.
• Sockgate - The East Asian sports/diplomacy scandal which saw Yang Shu-chun disqualified from taekwondo competition 2010 Asian Games for highly-controversial and contested reasons, leading to Taiwanese protests against South Korea.
• Spygate (1) — See also Stepneygate – The controversy surrounding the 2007 Formula One espionage controversy.
• Spygate (2) – The scandal involving the New England Patriots' videotaping of the New York Jets defensive signals during a 2007 NFL game.
• Squidgygate/Dianagate — tape of a telephone conversation between Diana, Princess of Wales and a male friend.
• Stepneygate — Allegations of espionage in Formula One racing carried out by members of the McLaren team. Also sometimes known as Spygate (not to be confused with the NFL scandal of the same name).
• Stormontgate — Allegations of a Provisional Irish Republican Army spy ring operating in Stormont (Home to the Northern Ireland Assembly).
• Strippergate (Seattle) & Strippergate (San Diego) – two separate government scandals and criminal investigations
• Tasergate —aka Troopergate, a reference to the allegation that an Alaskan State Trooper, who was the brother-in-law of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, used a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson.
• Tigergate – A series of alleged and admitted martial infidelities by golf superstar Tiger Woods.
• Toallagate — A 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.
• Toiletgate – the allegations by Veselin Topalov and his manager Silvio Danailov during the World Chess Championship 2006 that Topalov's opponent Vladimir 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.
• Travelgate — The 1993 firings of White House Travel Office employees at the start of the Clinton administration.
• Tripgate - During the December 11, 2010 NFL game between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi tripped Dolphins gunner Nolan Carroll as he ran down the Jets sideline. The Jets suspended Alosi indefinitely for setting up a "wall" on the sideline and claim he acted alone in doing so.
• Troopergate (1) — The allegations by two Arkansas state troopers that they arranged sexual liaisons for then-governor Bill Clinton.
• Troopergate (2) — controversy involving New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who allegedly ordered the state police to create special records of senate majority leader Joseph L. Bruno's whereabouts when he traveled with police escorts in New York City.
• Troopergate (3) — the controversy surrounding allegations that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee for the United 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 prefers the term "Tasergate", a reference to the allegation that the trooper used a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson.
• Tunagate — A 1985 political scandal in Canada involving large quantities of possibly spoiled tuna which were sold to the public.
• Utegate — A June 2009 political incident around the lending of a utility vehicle ("ute") to Australian Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd by car dealer John Grant, and subsequent allegations of improper favorable treatment of Grant by the Treasury department.
• Wampumgate – Controversy around the 1995 rejection of an Indian gambling project submitted by three impoverished tribes in the American northlands.
• Watergate – The original "gate" scandal got its name from the Watergate Hotel, where two politically motivated burglaries took place in 1972. The Watergate scandal ultimately led to the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon on August 9, 1974.
• Waterkantgate or Watergate an der Waterkant a major political scandal in Germany (1987)
• Wormgate – 2007 Australian Federal Election Leaders Debate Controversy. A controversial decision was taken during the debate to interrupt the provision of the live transmission signal to the Channel Nine network because of the inclusion by Channel Nine within its broadcast picture of a real time graphical display of the aggregate studio audience reaction to the debate. This graphical display is referred to as the 'Worm', after the form in which it is rendered and an approximately 'worm like' movement of the display within the area of the screen in which it appears.
• Wheatgate — Better known as AWB Oil-for-Wheat Scandal - involved payments by Australian weat exporter AWB Limited to the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein that were in contravention of the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme
• Whitewatergate — Better known as the Whitewater controversy.

Fictional scandals

• Flatgate: In an episode of 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"
• Petra-Gate: Episode 20, Season 1 of American Sitcom Ugly Betty. Daniel sleeps with an under-age girl, Petra, and it is up to Betty and Henry to prove her real age.
• Polkagate: On the 5th episode of the 2nd season of the sitcom ALF, the character ALF tries to rig the ratings for a Polka dance show to save it from cancellation. After he's caught, he refers to his efforts as "Polkagate".
• Waitergate: In the Simpsons episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", a court case surrounding a clumsy waiter who appeared to have been beaten is named by the press as 'Beat-Up Waiter'. Local news anchorman Kent Brockman suggest it be called 'Waitergate', but was "shouted down in the press conference". Bart in fact witnessed the waiter's accidental injuries while playing truant from school, but didn't come forward as he would be punished by Principle Skinner.

External links

• Joseph, Brian D. "Yet More on -gate Words – A Perspective from Abroad" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-09-05.
• al-Lughat, Jabal. ""-gate" suffix reaches Arabic". Retrieved 2008-09-17.