Bottom line, IMHO as long as he sticks to what he pledged, (ie to give money, not advice) appology is accepted.
But if he continues to throw his weight around then the money should be returned.
Interesting middle of the road hashkafah for cherry.. Did you hear that from Daas Torah?
You are saying that since he is giving his money to tzidakah, as he said he would, then apology accepted. In other words, had he not apologized, then in fact the right thing would be to return the money.
Question: Its been 3 days since the speech.1) Should they have returned the money by now or stated that they wont accept the pledge? 2) Perhaps they were waiting to see if he would retract. Should they have stated something like, If he wont retract, we dont want his money...
This is all assuming your middle of the road hashkafah is correct. Perhaps, regardless, they should return the money since it was mivazeh talmidei chachamim and was a massive chilul Hashem. That sounds like a very honest approach with zero negios. Dont you think? What would they hold in Brisk?