Linus was also nearly driven out by "activists". Best I can tell he never actually said or did anything egregious - his European directness and sense of humor just upset some particularly fragile folks on the mailing list, and so did his refusal to grovel before them.

That said burntsushi at least doesn't seem like an activist to me, so the grievances are probably legitimate. Coming from someone less prominent they'd not have anywhere near the same weight in my eyes. We just don't know what they are.

I remember a person from current Rust's core team cheering when that person thought Linus is getting ousted from the project.

I take Linux organizational model over Rust's every day. A group of super competent people with no bullshit policy. It is proven. The problem is how to form the successor to the dictator.