I've had at least two friends who were up for directing jobs on projects that he produced. One of them had confirmed that he is a jackass and was more than happy that the job went to someone else. He said, "I dodged a bullet."

You don't know WHY he refused to appear, so why do you automatically assume he has a big ego? (maybe he does, maybe he doesn't - point is, I don't know, and neither do you). Maybe the venue refused to fulfil their promises, so he refused to fulfil his
Unfair on the people who paid to see him, perhaps, but if he had problems with the way things were done, he's not going to benefit an organisation that cheated him.
On the other hand, he could legitimately be a huge jerk - but since his beef was with the staff and you didn't catch why, you can't sa2000y for sure.
"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"