The fact is he obviously learned this practice was acceptable via whatever means and now he has apologized for it offered damages an people are still crucifying him. I'm sure 99% of the people crucifying him have done something along the way the regret as well and wouldn't want a lifetime tag of it.
And now for the moral dilemma that outlines the hypocrisy here. You just described the reasoning behind me making a trolling bet, yet even though I also didn't intend to profit nor actually profit (in fact I paid much more than Garr will ever be able to pay in his lifetime probably) as a result of it, I'm still deemed a scammer or "untrustworthy". Why would that be? Because he's a few years younger than me?