Tell me about it. Tbqh it does my head in. There is a lot of petty and awful behaviour that has been deemed acceptable from older/more senior academics both in publications and in public, and usually people are afraid to say anything so a lot of info is based on rumours etc.
I should say in private as well, in listservs and Facebook pages. We are usually cautioned to not say anything about the bad behaviour. I hope we are moving past that. But maybe I am being optimistic, idk.