Well, first of all there's nothing wrong with posting "i hear/he heard" things on this board. It's a forum. It creates interesting topics.
What I heard about the Sting gig has nothing to do with Steve Holmes. I don't thinkg Steve even said anything about it.
Secondly why is that negative? Keith is still a monster drummer doing monster gigs. So what if he has a laid back groove. He mentions it in his MD interview. Playing back in my opinion feels great.
Abe Laborial Jr was doing the Sting gig as well. He was also let go. He also plays very back.
So? I don't think it damaged his rep much. Not every drummer is for every gig. Big deal. We can only learn from the reasons why they were let go. How is that negative?