I've never understood that stance because surely the mere threat (even implied) of a sponsor removing thousands in funding would be enough to exert influence on

I've never understood that stance because surely the mere threat (even implied) of a sponsor removing thousands in funding would be enough to exert influence on the project. The sponsor money is used to pay developers to work on Ladybird so a major sponsor pulling out could mean laying off core developers, which the project would obviously be motivated to prevent.