It started pretty randomly and he fanned the flames by pointing it out. I think people were just enjoying watching him freak out about it - especially since he couldn’t get a response to his inquiries without opening his chat to everyone. He seems to be taking it well, though.
I couldn’t tell you. It appeared to start randomly on FB Messenger and he just made it worse by pointing it out to his followers. Now he gets hundreds of bike emojis on every comment he posts.