A long time ago when my Dad was going to high school, he ran for student body office and won by promoting himself to the nonpopular kids. There were way more of them than the popular kids and those who wanted to be them. The entire concept of being a popular kid has been blown back several times since. Spiderman filled a stadium in the 70's. Toys and other stuff for kids was sold throughout the 80's and made a lot of money. Comics became collectors items in the 90's. Then they became the big name in movies in the 00 and 010 period. That is decades of nonpopular kids ruling over the popular kids.

So, the popular kids are now trying to appropriate it as their own. It never works because its not as popular, but they scheme to make it look that way. We aren't seeing popular girls try to steal D&D, we are seeing popular girls attempt to be popular with what they think D&D is. The line of distinction is obvious when you see how they respond to it. The Gatekeeping that famously happened was just Geeks making sure the girl they are talking to is an actual geek and not a wannabe.

We watch them lose, because they think they are popular. They are willing to rip the country in half to get their way.