I agree that the context here is important, when we are talking about a poster who has a long, well-established history of saying crude and offensive things and implying or occasionally outright stating some very gross opinions. This board has a tendency to evaluate posts and post-specific actions, as noted in the OP, in a fairly narrow and legalistic fashion, but the reality is that some posters should not be given the benefit of the doubt and should be kept on a much shorter leash.
My disagreement is found in my view that this should instead have been taken to the Pit thread. There, people could be properly reminded of the context, and they’d realize that the implication behind the behavior is not isolated and the type of comment they would otherwise defend is actually part of an unpleasant pattern.