I had never heard of the Tim Peters incident, but I just googled it. (It's not on his Wikipedia page.)

I found this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Python/comments/1ep4dbt/the_shamefu...

Which points to this:

https://chrismcdonough.substack.com/p/the-shameful-defenestr...

This characterizes it as completely unfair, and the /r/python community seems to agree.

Is there a rebuttal from the other side?

Wow, I somehow missed all that. That's horrendous. I've always felt that a code of conduct is a tool for bureaucrats to hide behind, and episode doesn't alter my view. Thanks for sharing.