I think people have a tendency to overreact to things in the internet era, and I think this is one such occasion.
A bunch of fans (not reporters, not writers, not journalists, FANS -- and FAN is short for FANATIC) who do a podcast I've never heard of and will probably never hear about again after this story blows over had a guy say something horribly inappropriate, and some of the others laughed uncomfortably. And?
My colleagues and myself were cracking jokes with each other on 9/11 just a couple hours after the towers collapsed. Not because it's a funny topic, but because we didn't know what else to do. Sometimes when people are frustrated and pissed off they say inappropriate things. My sense of humor is pretty dark, so god knows I've done it.
The crack about Laine was wholly inappropriate. No doubt. But he said it as a part of how unenjoyable it is to be a fan of this franchise. Which we can all relate to. I work a job where I have to be there during the evenings, so I watch most of the games on DVR. When Fantilli got hurt, I deleted them from my recordings list, so I'm not watching again anytime soon. That's how I dealt with it. This guy tried to make a joke about a serious topic to lighten the load, and it didn't land. Which it shouldn't have, because it was absolutely tasteless. But to suggest that these guys should never be allowed into the building again... come on. If we banned every fan who said something inappropriate out of frustration, the arena would be empty.
A couple seasons ago, I said something a lot less controversial and not remotely offensive on Twitter about the Crew's goalkeeper, and I had people come out of the woodwork to tell me I was a bad fan, I didn't deserve to follow the club, and I should go be a DC United fan. Never mind that I've spent more time and money on the Crew in my sleep than most of them will in their life; one comment meant I was unworthy of fandom. Well, that's not how this shit works. When things are going poorly for a team, their fans will get unhappy. You can't expect complete and total Pollyanna attitude from the base; things don't improve if that's what you have. A frustrated guy made a dumb joke about an embarrassing sports franchise. Pile on and call the guy a dick. He deserves it. Get it over with and move on.