It was a prop, not a zinger, that stole the show at Wednesday night’s 2024 Republican presidential debate in Tuscaloosa.

Hammering home his attack on former U.N. Ambassador and ex-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy held up a handwritten sign reading “Nikki = corrupt,” a characterization he repeated during debate critique of her association with aerospace giant Boeing Co., among other issues.

The use of the pad of paper and its message has been the talk of the debate among Republicans.

Ramaswamy had been asked if he questioned Haley’s Christian conviction after she was raised in the Sikh faith and converted when he held up the paper pad with the phrase “Nikki=Corrupt.”

The biotech entrepreneur criticized Haley for playing up her gender in the race.

“Nikki, I don’t have a woman problem, you have a corruption problem, and I think that that’s what people need to know,” he said, showing his paper pad to the debate audience. “Nikki is corrupt. this is a woman who will send your kids to die so she can build a bigger house.”

“This is the problem — using identity politics more effectively than Kamala Harris is a form of intellectual fraud.”

A chorus of boos rang out in the Moody Music Hall at the University of Alabama.

“There’s her donor puppet masters wielding their puppet right up here tonight,” Ramaswamy said. “This is how this game is played: the puppet masters put up their puppet, and I reject the use of identity politics in this party. It has been a cancer coming from teh left and I’m sick and tired of the double-standards … having two X chromosomes does not immunize you from criticism.”

All four candidates had notebooks on their podiums and were seen writing notes as soon as they walked on stage. It wasn’t clear when Ramaswamy had written the message.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.