It's not like the image is somehow accidental or out of the author's control. I don't know how you wouldn't read this as advertising a way to violate copyrights, it's an explicit advertisement of the sort of content you can find.

If the image weren't a suitable representation, then the author wouldn't have chosen it. You're trying to downplay that these sorts of decisions are intentional.

This is like an advertisement for guns, with a laser sight on the gun, pointed at someone.

Gun ownership is not a crime. But the gun is shown in a scenario where a crime is about to be committed.

At first I didn't have any issue but this analogy seems to have convinced me it's a bad image to use.

Or the image was a random search and there isn't a team of marketing and legal experts to interpret a quick demo in the worst way possible.

But I'm sure the maintainer will be happy to modify the picture with a search for "big buck bunny" if you ask nicely.