but he was sick, and he did make a mistake, and him being fired does not make either of those things false.

No, but I believe they were, nonetheless. Regardless, those things also do not excuse his actions, which is why I said he should be, and ultimately was, fired. And I think that's a positive thing.

Also, a ton of people were piling on him in that thread, so you had plenty of company in calling him to be fired.

The point is, plenty of people were downvoting me and defending him (such as yourself), which is what made it "controversial". I was explaining this to the person who was confused as to why it was controversial.