Point is it seems he did it after they kept following him and trying to get him to do it, it seems the guys in the other car even did it first to try to get him

Point is it seems he did it after they kept following him and trying to get him to do it, it seems the guys in the other car even did it first to try to get him to mimic it. And that is before we talk about the problem with firing someone over this in the first place. Context is important. I have had to tell my kids more than once that when an elderly person use their middle finger to point at something it isn't offensive because they grew up in a time when it didn't matter. That elderly person sure doesn't mean "F* you" as they are pointing their middle finger horizontally towards something while saying "look there". In fact I think we all do something every single day that would be considered offensive by someone at some point.