The controller firmly blamed MA and said he had no control over when they did it and they should make a complaint to the airport authority.
Something is wrong there. Either the inspections are, as they should be, flexible, or, they are at a set time and cannot be delayed.
Even after it's started they could have vacated let the aircraft depart and then continued.
Maybe the controller was just having a bad day, they are not immune.
Routine runway inspections are mandatory, however timing of them is flexible and should cause minimum disruption.