Sexism is a form of hate speech

A recent blog post by director Kevin Smith has dredged up old arguments about his actions, and inactions, when it comes to sexism/misogyny.
While I have no doubt that Kevin believes he isn't a sexist person, his behaviour doesn't really reflect that feeling.
I was a member of his View Askew message board for many years. The board was shut down a couple of times due to "bad behaviour" by some members. The final shutdown came after Kevin's friend Bryan Johnson banned a couple of people for, well, I'm not sure what his reason was, other than they were "teh meaniez". As far as I could see, their only "crime" had been to call out Bryan on his sexist and misogynistic behaviour on social media and his podcast. As well as the unwarranted banning, Bryan went on a rampage, using vulgar, misogynistic language towards, and about, women.
Following the podcast debacle, I actually stopped listening to his show. It just stopped being entertaining and funny, and began to border on hate speech.
Jen, Kevin's husband, posted tweets of agreement with a lot of the voices against Bryan Johnson. But Kevin remained silent. The man who claimed to "love women", who said that he was on their side, had nothing to say about the blatant hatred being spewed by his friend.
And of course, any defence made by Bryan and his compadres was "lighten up, woman", or "it's just jokes" and things along that line.
People I consider friends were personally attacked, not just by Bryan, but by "fans" of his. I won't go into what was said specifically, but anyone who wishes rape upon another person is less than human in my eyes.
The saddest thing was that women were joining in, but not on the side of women. They were agreeing with Bryan's point of view, desperately seeking attention from the sexist slob by tweeting their support. This, along with Kevin's silence and continued support of Bryan via the podcast and TV series, showed that Kevin Smith supported sexist behaviour and speech, and that he did not dissuade his fans from the same.
This makes him the same as Bryan Johnson. This new post where he asks people not to personally attack a critic along gender lines does not change this. Kevin drew his line in the sand when he stayed quiet about what Bryan did/said.
I do not claim to be the most well-versed feminist, and I regularly have my eyes opened about the everyday sexism that women across the world face.
But the fact of the matter is that these people have no respect for women, and that is something I cannot support, and I do not need a degree in feminist theory to know that.