IIRC, the genesis of the episode was the writers asking, everyone loves Homer, but what if you actually had to work with him, and pick up the slack or the pieces, you’d quickly hate him. Hes basically a sociopath.

As for sympathizing with Grimes, one really has to, unless one is a socioopath as well. Someone once said online that they loved Animal House, and watched it every year, but year after year, they gradually came around to Dean Wormer’s side. All this goyslop is designed to inculcate the idea that slobs beat snobs, losers rule, nerds are cool, etc. Vivek is the latest product of this mentality.