I see where Steve is coming from but he is completely wrong. You cannot bully someone who has far more power than you, and a history of using it to hurt people like you.
Using Steve's reasonings, the things his boss has said from the stage quite often: if Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush had actually been in the audience at one of those shows, should Bruce have abstained from saying that night the things he had said the previous night and would say the next night? Graciousness would seem to demand it, from Steve's POV. But that seems to at the very least cross the line from politesse into obsequiousness or at the very least not having the courage of one's convictions.