There seems to be two different arguments going on here; 1) Whether the guy should be fired or just given a roasting and 2) Whether the guy did anything wrong at all.
I don't think he should be fired, I do think he needs to be given a roasting and that used as a warning to anyone else contemplating such a poor sense of judgement.
As for argument 2) - maybe I've misunderstood some of the replies here, but is anyone actually saying that they feel the guy did nothing wrong, and should not even be disciplined for it ?