If he said some Canadian guy or some English guy then no one would have gave a shit. Sometimes people do not carry their own opinions, they carry the opinion that has been shoved down their throats for years through some carefully constructed methods for some other entities agenda.
There is no question that people have had their opinion manipulated. But that doesn't matter in the slightest (for this topic at least). If they feel offended, they are only going to have a stronger opinion towards the entity shoving it down their throat. It literally only makes the problem worse, something said entity knows, and everyone who disregards the feelings of the person who feels victimized only makes it worse for themselves as they give more power to said entity. You literally are playing right into their hand.
So if someone gets offended at something, how should people treat them? You could say with empathy but I can't empathise with such a person as when I get offended at something I try and work out if me being offended is justified logically, in this case its not. Apologising would only justify you believing the statement to be racist, which is exactly what they want. You think Atlas should apologise?