The people who worked on that film were employed by Lucas to realize his vision for these films. They produced a ton of stuff that never even made it to the original theatrical version, should they feel slighted by that too?

What about the actress who played Beru in ANH? Her voice wasn't dubbed over in the initial theatrical run, and was later.

What about the people who put together the "man in suit" version of the rancor they never used in the end?

What about Luke's friends on Tatooine that now aren't in the movie at all?

Is it -ever- okay for Lucas to make an executive creative decision? Or does he lose that right only when you have seen his movie?

And Lucas didn't get rid of it, he merely made it better (to him).