TL;DR characterizing the situation as mud-slinging seemed way off key from a disinvested party's perspective. Your mileage may vary, there's no absolutes, and you certainly have enough experience in the industry and being in the public eye that generic advice isn't necessarily valuable here, as our friend points out.

To your point, maybe it is a problem.

Who knows. Life is messy, and pitching absolutes that you pretend are clear to everyone else in order to intensify criticism of a person for having any thought at all, actually only makes it harder to everyone else. (this is response to our friend here, not you)