English

Noun

sex, lies and videotape ‎(uncountable)

1. (idiomatic) The controversy surrounding a political scandal.
   • 1992, John Laschinger & Geoffrey Stevens, Leaders & lesser mortals: backroom politics in Canada, Key Porter Books, page #123:

     Today, choosing a president seems to have more to do with sex, lies and videotape.

   • 1995, India today, Volume 22, Aroon Purie for Living Media India Ltd., page #111:

     Thus, Chetan Anand is described as "the biggest taker and sponger I met in my life": another blurb reads, "Sex, lies and videotape, the story of I.S. Johar's life"...

   • 1998, Nino S. Levy, Managing high technology and innovation, Prentice Hall, page #105:

     It is not "sex, lies and videotape" but the drama of CAD, cost and cycle time that is generating a revolution in the business of design.

   • 2002, Mack Mangham, Things Left Undone, iUniverse, page #155:

     "Inquiring minds want to know. Give 'em what they deserve. Sex, lies and videotape."

   • 2008, Toni Morrison & Carolyn C. Denard, What moves at the margin: selected nonfiction, Univ. Press of Mississippi, page #151:

     Whatever the media promote and the chorus chants, whatever dapples dinner tables, this is not a mundane story of sex, lies and videotape.