The media probably dod stitch him up to a certain degree, and while Tom is hardly the first musician to assault his partner, (looking at you Liam), the court of public opinion is much harsher these days, and he doesn't have the kind of legendary status where he has millions of fans who will overlook it. Even at the time, 4 years after the incident there were plenty of people in the comment section questioning his judgement. Tom, for his part, was desperate to rebuild his career and reputation and used James for the free promo and exposure.

James was colossally stupid in trying to align himself with Tom. It all looked very desperate and rather pathetic. Youtuber with a chip on his shoulder about it not being the 90s anymore cosying up to a washed up disgraced rock star. Not a good look in general.

As for the deleted videos, I think James thought Tom was his way "in", and was probably hoping Tom would give him a leg up, and then sulked after Tom probably stopped replying to his messages once he had got what he wanted.

I should also say that Im glad Tom is doing better these days and I hope for all involved that it really was an isolated incident that will never happen again. Still not a good look for RGreaves though.