I agree, and if that had been the topic I'd have a few things to say about that. But briefly, those types of episodes were designed to stress, torment, and anger the hosts in exchange for content (reactions).

It worked. In that situation Clarkson admitted wrongdoing, the production staff admitting pushing them too far, Clarkson was terminated, and no fuss was made beyond the described actions by parties involved.

Anything beyond that was just noise and online warriors who wanted it to be larger than it was.