My feeling is that she is attempting to deflect fair criticism by putting spin on it. She's basically saying that those who complain about the spelling of the names are bad people who are abusing her personally and are blind to the lofty goals of her noble work. The criticism of her work is in fact valid, and if it makes her feel "denigrated" then she is too egotistical. (It is proper for her to feel a bit of embarassment over this by the way.)

If you had to choose between two artists in the future for a public works project, which would you choose: one who graciously rectified a problem or one who tried to make herself out to be the victim of some horrible injustice?