Maybe the reason that everyone kept quiet was to not give the situation any oxygen.
To not give the attention seeker any attention.
This could have all been easily squashed at the beginning by saying: "We thank Mr. Thompson for his years of service and wish him well in his new venture. We are not affiliated with NPC Global and we may need to take legal action if necessary." That is the professional way to handle things. Why were they running around like scared jackrabbits and having the pros do these videos about IFBB loyalty and stuff if they weren't scared. It made them seem guilty.
Instead people took it up on themselves to make juvenile memes, comments, and start making personal accusations and then Lee came back with his personal attacks and the whole situation started to go down the drain. I think the truce came when he threatened to say where the bodies were buried. We all know that they are shady because they allowed him to reign for years and he was so horrible according to him. A lot of what he said in that video about the NPC/IFBB has been said for years. Him saying it only confirmed what many already thought.