Whether there is a preamble or the somewhat vetted ‘more than meets the eye’ to this rather minor incident, there is no relevance.
The point made was professional conduct on frequency, any history, personality clashes etc, etc is a side bar issue……shouldn’t affect the ATC’s response in any way.
If indeed there was some previous coaxing/goading thrown out there by this Up/Down fellow, or even on the day concerned…..well then in all honesty, the controller was a bit of a tit to walk into it or partake in it.