You are not out of touch- I never heard of it either, I can bet the whole thing started out innocently.
Those (these) kinds of things only get blown out of propotion b/c people MAKE it a big deal. Sometimes you get that ONE person- that "squeaky wheel" who always needs the oil and the rest of use were already oiled up and just fine and dandy

....Squeaky people throwin' a wrench into our fun
Kinda like that Janet Jackson "incident" if everyone just kept quiet- no one would have been the wiser and no attention would have been drawn to it

SEE like we are doing now!
ITA- I have NO idea what the heck that reference was supposed to me about Mission to Mars
OK- I am all done- getting off my soapbox!