Not sure if it had the same connotation in English, but in German the word for gay was used as a synonym for "shit" or "fucked up", still not everybody who used it is a homophobic person. It is not nice and in due time not acceptable anymore because language changed again and also the whole acceptance for gay people changed positively , but the gist of this: just because you say something, some word, it does not make you part of any "group" of people.
However I do understand the uproar of course because he is a public person and as that has to accept more accusations as others and I also understand that especially fellow gamers are upset because it is our hobby which also gets dragged in the dirt. I never liked him and always was ashamed that people believed he would be a "gamer".