If the joke teller was not fired by Playhaven, Anon would likely not have attacked SendGrid, Ms. Richards would likely not have been fired either, and there would be far, far less controversy overall to discuss.
So the incident that leveraged the situation into such a huge controversy was the firing by Playhaven.
And Playhaven has stated "we will not comment on all the factors that contributed to our parting ways," strongly implying there were factors in addition to the joke telling that led to the firing.
This also implies that without those additional, unnamed factors, the individual may not have been fired.
So the catalyst that caused a situation that seemingly did not need to spiral out of control were those hidden factors, that no one is commenting much about, because no one knows what they are.
So the incident that leveraged the situation into such a huge controversy was the firing by Playhaven.
And Playhaven has stated "we will not comment on all the factors that contributed to our parting ways," strongly implying there were factors in addition to the joke telling that led to the firing.
This also implies that without those additional, unnamed factors, the individual may not have been fired.
So the catalyst that caused a situation that seemingly did not need to spiral out of control were those hidden factors, that no one is commenting much about, because no one knows what they are.