Fox is not a small-time, they have more primetime viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined. If people’s first exposure to a movement is something like that interview…Several other news outlets also rehosted clips and wrote stories about just how terrible it was. That creates a strong barrier to anyone labeled as being “with” that person to overcome in order to be taken seriously. Whereas if you discovered the community where there were memes/conversations around workers rights and how they’re getting fucked the perception is much different.
It also was directly against the wishes of a community vote and mod discussion of doing a fox interview. A very good way to tell supporters of a movement that a purported “leader” doesn’t actually care about what they’re saying. To say that it was minor damage really underplays how it affected perception and unity of the community.