The story
From Manuel + -gate; Sachs famously played Manuel in the TV comedy Fawlty Towers.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Manuelgate
Today it means: A controversy caused by a series of lewd voice messages left as a prank on the answering machine of actor Andrew Sachs by comedian Russell Brand and TV presenter Jonathan Ross in 2008. Full definition →