Same old story, GrapheneOS's self-rightousness has caused them grief before (plenty of times actually), and this is just another example of it. Compare and contrast with something like CalyxOS, or even just Vanilla LineageOS, and it's night and day for being able to support more devices and be less reliant on Google. And I say that as a guy who loves his Pixel 6 Pro with CalyxOS.
GOS is a great idea, and I'm glad it exists, but ultimately they are their own worst enemies about a lot of things. Micay obviously wasn't the whole issue there either (though he certainly bears a lot of responsibility for what made Graphene and its community so toxic for several years too...).