I'm with the woman on this one. This guy has no right to interfere with the proper operation of the airlines seats. It's not his decision who gets to recline and who doesn't. He should have removed it when told to do so by the flight attendant.
Instead he refused to remove it, and caused the plane to be diverted to Chicago so he and the woman could be removed from the plane.
Probably a couple hundred people inconvenienced by the delay, just cause this guy wanted to be a jerk.