Video of the awkward moment shows John Cox being served court documents during his opening remarks of the debate at the Guild Theater in Sacramento, California.
“John Cox, you’ve been served (by the) San Diego Superior Court, ordered by the judge,” a man yelled, throwing the documents onstage.
Cox, a businessman and multimillionaire, was served with a subpoena from the San Diego Superior Court because his campaign allegedly failed to pay a political advertising firm about $100,000 for political ads, attorney’s fees and other incurred costs from Cox’s unsuccessful run for governor in 2018 against Newsom, according to the Times.
CNN has reached out to the San Diego Superior Court for additional details and to Cox for comment.
Cox was participating in Tuesday’s debate alongside two other Republican hopefuls, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Rocklin Assemblyman Kevin Kiley. The four other candidates invited included Newsom, Republican front-runner Larry Elder, reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner and former US Rep. Doug Ose.
Newsom and Elder both declined participating in the debate, while Jenner did not respond, a debate moderator said.
Ose had agreed to the debate, but on Tuesday he ended his Republican recall candidacy after being treated for a heart attack on Sunday.
The hour-long debate was hosted by the Sacramento Press Club and cosponsored by the Sacramento Bee and CapRadio.
The candidates fielded questions about the Covid-19 pandemic response, housing, wildfires and drought, and the state economy and unemployment.
The California recall election is set for September 14. California voters will be asked two questions on the ballot: First, “yes” or “no” on whether they want to recall Newsom and second, to select from a list of candidates to replace him.
CNN’s Alex Rogers and Maeve Reston contributed to this report.