I said they aren't that important. Obviously, a low GPA (3.0 or less) will get you rejected unless you have mindblowing letters of rec / publications. But, tons

I said they aren't that important. Obviously, a low GPA (3.0 or less) will get you rejected unless you have mindblowing letters of rec / publications. But, tons of people have high GPAs, so a high GPA is not going to get you into a top program. Also, an average GPA, but great recommendation letters (and/or publications in top venues) will get you into a top program. Interpolate as you will for GPAs between a 3.0 and 3.5. Also the kind of person who gets papers published or gets great recs is going to be correlated with a high GPA.