He's not saying the protesters are wrong. He's saying that listening to them for business decisions doesn't always make sense. If they wouldn't pay you anyhow, then there's not much point in listening to them.

In this case, the people protesting aren't people who would have paid for the show anyhow. If you make the show worse to please them, you haven't actually gained anything financially.

Ethics and morals are a different discussion, but IMO you shouldn't need protesters to know your own ethical/moral stance.

I believe this is exactly an "ethics and morals" discussion, and apparently protesters were needed to stop the practice.

As the negative impact on the circus business in the case at hand shows, you can't separate the ethics and morals from the business model, just like with slavery-based cotton production. "Yeah, you may be right, but let's put the morals of slavery aside while we're discussing the bottom line of my plantation" will not fly.