Florida's Republican Gov. Rick Scott nearly canceled Wednesday night's gubernatorial debate with his Democratic opponent, former Gov. Charlie Crist, over a bizarre squabble on live television that now goes by the name "Fangate."

The start of the debate was delayed for nearly seven minutes after Gov. Scott refused to go onstage over Crist's fan.

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No, not the rowdy or cheering type, but the small, portable kind of a fan. A dark, plastic electric fan to be precise. The former governor had one tucked under his podium.

Apparently, it was against debate rules to bring a fan onstage, which was enough for the Republican governor to refuse participating in the debate at Broward College.

For what seemed like an eternity on live television, the governor's absence sent the debate panelists fumbling for an explanation.

"We have an extremely peculiar situation right now," announced Elliott Rodriguez, a Miami news anchor and the debate's moderator.

He proceeded with an explanation of how somehow the former governor's portable pal got plugged under his lectern, compelling the incumbent to not participate in the debate.

Crist, a former Republican who now seeks to take back his old job from Scott as a Democrat, never goes anywhere without his fan, reported the L.A. Times.

As members of the audience hooted and booed, Crist seized the opportunity with the question on whether the debate is really about the fan. Scott finally appeared a few moments later.

The rest of the hour showed how the two men differed in their opinions on various issues, including gay marriage, raising minimum wage, Florida's law on self-defense, and global warming.

The finger-pointing and accusations went full throttle as the debate headed to its end. By the time Crist and Scott rested their case, hashtags "fangate," "funtram," "fambola," "fanghazi," and "CristHitsTheFan" were trending on Twitter. 

TagsFlorida Fangate, Fangate, Fantrum, Florida gubernatorial debate, Florida gubernatorial election 2014, Charlie Crist