I don't know or care much about Stallman and the situation, don't really have a dog in this fight. What I do know is that "It's been like this for decades" is never an appropriate defense.
So the question is this: if he's had his outspoken opinions on controversial topics for decades, there's no evidence of his opinions actually causing any real tangible harm, and under his tenure the FSF has been a runaway success -- why is it an issue now?
You know what?
He got better with time, given where he came from.
So he's still better than the majority of puppets lurking in his background to find something to use against him.
For example: he never threatened anybody nor accused anybody falsely nor asked for somebody to be "removed".