This is a list of scandals or controversies whose names include a -gate suffix, by analogy with the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, as well as other incidents to which the suffix has (often facetiously) been applied. 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 the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal, known as "Bountygate"). Use of the -gate suffix has spread beyond American English to many other countries and languages.

Etymology, usage, and history of -gate

The suffix -gate derives from the Watergate scandal in the United States in the early 1970s, which resulted in the resignation of US President Richard Nixon."-gate, comb. form." OED Online. Oxford University Press, March 2015. Web. June 8, 2015. The scandal was named after the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C., where the burglary giving rise to the scandal took place; the complex itself was named after the "Water Gate" area where symphony orchestra concerts were staged on the Potomac River between 1935 and 1965.

The suffix has become productive as a libfix and is used to embellish a noun or name to suggest the existence of a far-reaching scandal, particularly in politics and government. As a CBC News column noted in 2001, the term may "suggest unethical behavior and a cover-up".

The use of “—gate” served well in an era of sound bites politics. Because they were short and memorable, these phrases caught the attention of the public — and because of its origin [Watergate] it carried a stigma around it, making lesser-known scenarios seem more important.

Such usage has been criticized by some 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":

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 said to author Eric Alterman that he "may have been seeking to minimize the relative importance of the crimes committed by his former boss with this silliness".

The usage has spread into languages other than English; examples of -gate being used to refer to local political scandals have been reported from Argentina, Germany, South Korea, Hungary, Greece and the former Yugoslavia. He cites: (for German) (for Hungarian) (for Serbo-Croatian and Greek) The term is also used in Mandarin Chinese with the suffix -mén ().

Some commentators have characterized this use of the -gate suffix as a snowclone. But Geoffrey Pullum, the coiner of the term snowclone, considers that it is only a "lexical word-formation analog". 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.

Similar phenomena 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 with gerrymandering ("Henry-mandering" was used in 1852). In recent years, the -gate suffix as a catch-all signifier for scandal has seen some competition from as in "Ballghazi" instead of "Deflategate", or "Bridgeghazi" instead of "Bridgegate". The use of --ghazi is a play on the investigation 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.

Like the -gate suffix, the Italian suffix emerged in Italian media from investigations in the 1990s that uncovered a system known as . The term derives from , which means 'kickback' (e.g., bribery given for public works contracts), and , meaning 'city'. Examples of snowclone-like use of include (a financial scandal) and (a 2006 Italian football scandal).

Scandals

These scandals have been given the -gate suffix.

Arts and entertainment Name Year Description Country Belindagate 2003 During a live broadcast of Big Brother Australia 2003, contestant Belinda Thorpe disclosed the identity of her underage sister, who was standing trial for her involvement in the murder of a 31-year-old gay man, provoking widespread public reaction. Speaking while intoxicated, Thorpe also described the circumstances of the killing. As it is illegal in Queensland to identify a minor involved in an active court case, the broadcast was terminated within seconds and remained blank for several hours, although the information had already been aired. Australia Burning Sun gate (Burning Sun scandal) 2019 An entertainment and sex scandal that revolved around the Burning Sun nightclub in Seoul and involved several celebrities, including Korean idols in popular K-pop groups, and police officials. South Korea Celebgate (also known as "The Fappening") 2014 A collection of nearly 500 private photographs of various celebrities, many containing nudity, leaked via iCloud and posted on the imageboard 4chan, and later disseminated by other users on websites and social networks such as Imgur and Reddit. United States Closetgate 2006 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. United States Coldplaygate 2025 During a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium, the jumbotron cut to two fans holding each other in a loving embrace. However, upon realizing they were being filmed, the pair tried to duck out of view, prompting speculation on social media that they were having an affair. (The pair was later identified as Andy Byron, the married CEO of tech startup Astronomer, and Kristin Cabot, Astronomer's chief people officer.) United States Comicsgate 2018 An alt-right harassment campaign in opposition to what its participants describe as "forced diversity" and progressivism in 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 Conformitygate (also "Conformity Gate")2026The fan theory that the divisive series finale of Netflix original sci-fi show Stranger Things, which aired on December 31, 2025, was a red herring, and that the "true" series finale would be released on January 7, 2026. The polarizing theory spread quickly through social media, and is sometimes labeled a conspiracy theory. On January 7, the Netflix site reportedly experienced an outage due to increased user traffic. However, no new episodes of Stranger Things were released that day.Worldwide Cuntgate 2018 The outrage on social media that followed when Samantha Bee called Ivanka Trump a "feckless cunt" on her comedy news show, Full Frontal, in the context of the family separation policy under the first Trump administration. United States Cutgate2025 After the release of the second volume of Stranger Things 5 on December 25, fans theorized that hours of content were cut, and created a public, widely-circulated Google Doc that was soon access-restricted. This raised concerns over the integrity of and possible narrative gaps in the episodes. A Change.org petition calling for the release of "unseen footage" was created by Wennii J., a fan based in New York, and raised over 400,000 signatures. Actor Randy Havens, who portrays Mr. Clarke in the show, was the first to debunk this, saying on December 28, "There's no secret Snyder Cut of the show. Please don't believe everything some random ass tells you on the Internet."Worldwide Derpygate 2012 Controversy surrounding the character of Derpy Hooves from the animated series My 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 and The Hub subsequently pulled the episode from iTunes, 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 the brony fandom. United States and Canada Donutgate (also "Doughnutgate") 2015 Singer Ariana Grande was observed on video in Lake 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 the 2015 MLB All-Star Game concert, citing recent oral surgery. United States Doritogate2012Two initially unconnected events involving video game journalists Geoff Keighley and Lauren Wainwright are questioned in an article by Robert Florence, triggering a chain of events; Florence's publisher is threatened with legal action, Which led to the subsequent editing of the article, Florence resigning, The unedited version of the article suffering from the Streisand effect,