Strange one, this. I don't think the term is offensive personally, but if he's in a row with someone and uses that as ammunition, that's bound to cause trouble.
If the person he was in a row with was black and he used the 'N' word, there'd be a much bigger outcry than there is on this and I would assume that some of those on here saying the media is making a mountain out of a mole hill of this would think it's offensive, too.
My point is more about the double standards of it all and how weird it is that people get offended at such similar issues in such different ways than anything else.
Surely calling somebody ginger, gay, black, Jap or anything else that they're born with should hold the same weight in offensiveness.