The press didn’t vilify him, he stepped into known controversial territory with an answer that anybody that’s paid any attention to the world for the last decade knew was going to make people angry and cause of boycott. He could have easily opted not to answer (his handler should have stopped him), he could have just said he’s a Bible believing Christian and left it at that, but no he decided to get into anus vs vaginas, he ran straight into the hot button issue with a blow torch. And for that he’s been suspended.
Anybody whose job includes making public statements is one bad comment away from ending their job. It’s the nature of that kind of job. If you’re a celebrity, with a few rare exceptions, your job is to be likable and non-controversial. And it’s just as easy for liberals to screw that up as conservatives.
yes, his opinion is controversial. So is the assertion that homosexuality is moral behavior. Except that many people want to keep him from saying what he did. In the context of a “gentleman’s” magazine like GQ, the use of vagina and anus are not out of line. What had them controversial was not the words themselves by the fact that 1) the editor pulled them out of the text and show-cased them. and 2) because he dared to say that homosexuality is immoral, out loud and in public.