Despite of being an denial, You could just say "Yeah. It's a silly story for some reasons, But it got resolved now ;)" and that's better.
Discussion
This is literally the root problem of every single existing linux communities and other similar ones (especially Fediverse).
And instead of acknowledging it, They cope, Or even see it as a knife put closely to their own neck.
To put it simply, **They're afraid of seeing their own reflection**.
And this thing is not limited to these communities only, Some group like LGBT also has this same very critical problem of being overprotective, trauma bondings, 'optics', and when accountability is being mistake as an 'attack'.
This is not normal, This problem is very critical.
The very effective solution for this problem itself, If according to me: **Reflection**.
They hate it. Really-really hate it that they want to destroy that mirror into pieces. But they must face it.