Thing is, this is the internet.
He started the fuss, he made it bigger, he persisted and he was/is a major pain in the ass for a lot of people. It is not exactly uncommon for this kind of behaviour to be met by trolling and scorn. What did you expect, really?
You know, almost everyone can be a freaking nice guy sometimes or even half the time, but being an asshole the rest of it doesn't make them good persons to be treated gently.