Going into the Democratic debate in Nevada ahead of the state’s caucus last week, it looked like it could be Mike Bloomberg’s night. The former mayor of New York City and billionaire businessman had gone from rumored candidate to serious contender in a matter of weeks, thanks in no small part to the almost half a billion dollars he spent of his own personal fortune on the race. Bloomberg—who hadn’t appeared in a single debate until then—started to look as though he had a real shot at the nomination.

But within the event’s first 20 minutes, an alternative future took shape—one in which the 78-year-old might exit the stage, undergo a legal name change, and hire a number of armed guards to keep him safe from Senator Elizabeth Warren. Warren opened the debate with these words:

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians,’” she said. “And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump; I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”

If Bloomberg imagined that moment would be the first and last he would spend looking like an unwitting participant in the ice-bucket challenge, he was to be disappointed. Like a frat made up of Little League dads and WWE women, the Democratic candidates onstage seemed to land a series of blows on Bloomberg just to pass the time. Their attacks focused on his administration’s policy of stop-and-frisk, which disproportionately targeted black and Latino New Yorkers, his failure to release his full financial records, his damning comments on the 2008 financial crisis, and the accusation that his massive spending on campaign ads, rather than policy or charisma, purchased his appearance onstage. (Bloomberg defended stop-and-frisk as recently as 2015, specifically championing the fact that the policy resulted in the arrests of children in minority neighborhoods.) But the deepest slashes came when Bloomberg was confronted about accusations over his and his business’s treatment of women.

Though Bloomberg’s main function throughout the debate was to serve as a business-casual piñata, things became somehow worse for him about an hour into the night, when NBC News’s Hallie Jackson asked him about the sexual harassment and gender discrimination allegations leveled against him by former employees. “I have no tolerance for the kind of behavior the Me Too movement has exposed,” Bloomberg said, pointing out that 70% of the workers his foundation employees are women and that his deputy mayor was a woman.

“I hope you heard his defense: ‘I’ve been nice to some women,’” Warren said, asking Bloomberg point-blank how many of his former female employees had settled sexual harassment and gender discrimination lawsuits with him, leaving them bound by nondisclosure agreements that prevent them from speaking out now. Bloomberg refused to give a number, saying, “None of them accuse me of anything other than maybe they didn’t like a joke I told.” (Bloomberg himself has not been accused of sexual assault, but two of the suits are from women who alleged that they were sexually assaulted by other employees while they worked at Bloomberg LP, and that their cases were mishandled.)

What followed had the combined television appeal of a Bachelor proposal and a high-speed car chase. Warren, acting as a cross between an elite trial lawyer and a trained assassin, cross-examined Bloomberg on his refusal to release untold numbers of women from the muzzle of nondisclosure agreements, which Bloomberg faintly insisted the women “wanted.” (As former vice president Biden pointed out—that’s not what a nondisclosure agreement is.)

On February 21, after further public pressure from Warren, Bloomberg announced in a statement that his company will agree to release from nondisclosure agreements three women who had accused him of sexually inappropriate comments. He also announced that under his leadership, the company will no longer seek confidentiality agreements for sexual harassment or misconduct issues. “I want my company to be a model for women seeking opportunity and support in their careers,” Bloomberg said, according to the statement.