I think a key difference is that both Alex and Huntley said it about an opponent (football team), Max said and emphasized “the entire university, it’s fans.” If Max had said that the U of U’s football team is classless or trash it wouldn’t have bothered me much.
Having said that I didn’t like Huntley’s comments when he said them, but I also dislike fake apologies when you clearly meant what you said, so an apology from Huntley is pointless to me Just like Max’s fake apology.