At the risk of questioning the rules and authorities, I wonder if the controversy over this entry couldn’t just be contained to this topic and, hopefully, not be addressed during voting. People have already made their views clear, and though it may be too idealistic, I’d expect that everyone who either likes or does not like the controversial design choice would proceed to speak with their votes, not their text.
I’d also like to draw attention to a MOC in the Helryx contest that exhibited a very similar design choice but was not disqualified. While I understand that this one is being challenged over the controversy (which the Helryx one didn’t have), not the design itself, it seems unfair to mandate the removal of this design when that one was accepted.