Because the flipside of that is that this behavior often involves being an asshole.
Like House fandom, when they found reports of a real live doctor under review for telling patients things like You're too fat to date a white man. And applauded.

I freely admit to not following Ellison's career. Or Willis' either, for that matter (dispite having a couple of her books). But I really don't care - replace his name with anyone's, even persons I personally like and respect, and it'd piss me off. There's no excuse. And *especially* not that people have come to expect it from him.