He was homophobic because he used homophobic slurs, not because he did a mocking impression (which is just childish, and is also a good reason to not take the guy seriously). The guy is a fucking joke.

The slurs in question were repeatedly and brazenly used by Maza in his past attacks on Crowder, and thus were part of the impression in Crowder's response. Context matters. Otherwise, if simply uttering or referencing homophobic slurs makes one a homophobe, regardless of context, then wouldn't Carlos Maza be a homophobe too?

I don't follow Carlos's work, but looking at his twitter he is very openly gay, so I would find it very difficult to call him a homophobe. Also even outside of this one incident, the nicest way I would ever describe Crowder is a leach - I was shown his work by a family member (who thankfully doesn't watch his bullshit anymore) before this incident. The guy stirs up shit and offers no value; absolutely worthless.