It's 1,000 times WORSE that he apologized for it and said "he looks forward to continuing this conversation."
What a eunuch.
He should have put out a centerpiece of pansies and buttercups. Nobody would have complained about that.
He invited them, they ate his food, drank his wine (or at least were offered it before they got in a snit), and then they publicly picked a fight with him. And he groveled.
BTW, Don't any of them wear cotton socks, shirts, or jeans? All machine harvested and processed.