Its not a fruitless debate, since it concerns what is Buddhavacana or not, and thus what is the teachings of the founder or not.
The Buddha was clearly concerned with being misquoted, as in the mahaparanibbana sutta he says:
Without approval and without scorn, but carefully studying the sentences word by word, one should trace them in the Discourses and verify them by the Discipline. If they are neither traceable in the Discourses nor verifiable by the Discipline, one must conclude thus: ‘Certainly, this is not the Blessed One’s utterance; this has been misunderstood by that bhikkhu — or by that community, or by those elders, or by that elder.’ In that way, bhikkhus, you should reject it.
So no, its not just “academic”.