Of course people are allowed to have opinions or interests. AFAIK nobody has said you can't. He was also not fired, but resigned. People in prominent positions

Of course people are allowed to have opinions or interests. AFAIK nobody has said you can't. He was also not fired, but resigned. People in prominent positions have visibility and platform that elevates their voice as well as tacitly tieing their declared opinions to the organizations they represent. That is just how societies operate. You can rationalize that it shouldn't be like that, but it always has been and always will be and it is surprising that people are seemingly shocked or offended by this.