I always find it interesting how often Squarepusher and Themeister (of libretro/RetroArch) mistreat other emudevs until they snap, and somehow the other emudevs always end up being the only ones to catch any flak.
I suppose when you maintain a frontend based on the API Near designed, you probably have more time to manage PR. Especially when a lot of that PR management is done for you by pulling in the emulator cores created by dozens of other real developers and getting to slap your project's name on top of them.
Likewise, I feel Stenzek's pain with having to maintain compatibility with Wayland and the toxic expectations of Linux users. The harassment and abuse game developers and open-source developers face seem to overlap for emulator developers, and they get the worst of both. Plus, the shift to Wayland has led to a lot of extra work for developers not exclusively or primarily targeting the Linux platform. Wayland single-handedly shifted Linux development from *nix-like development to an extra, unique platform on top of the other Unices, similarly to macOS with Quartz.
I won't go too hard in the defense of Stenzek, but if you really want maintained Linux support, it might be a good idea to brush up on the skills and maintain a port yourself. The backend would still be something Stenzek would maintain, but it takes some load off him while spreading out the power he wields controlling the project, even if there's only a shallow fork.
It'd be a win-win.