Hang on Lee chose not to do his exit interview and no one (that I can remember) was giving him this level of criticism
I wasn't impressed with Lee not turning up either, but (from memory) he was apparently working away (whether true or not), and I think he phoned in. A bit different to 'decided not to be here', not providing a statement to be read on his behalf, etc - I'm curious that they chose to make clear that he declined to show up, rather than fudging around it.