I don’t think it’s contentious on the facts of the story, but rather the statement is a problem because it carries with it hundreds of years of people saying that all Jews are responsible for the actions of the religious authorities of Judea in the 1st century CE and therefore antisemitism is justified. This belief is commonly held and expressed by Christian antisemites, but is obviously wrong and bigoted, so people argue against it - the idea the Pontius Pilate is responsible for Jesus’ death is just a bad argument, you might as well blame Herod who had the opportunity to punish/pardon Jesus but opted to send him back to Pilate.
I don’t think it’s contentious on the facts of the story, but rather the statement is a problem because it carries with it hundreds of years of people saying that all Jews are responsible for the actions of the religious authorities of Judea in the 1st century CE and therefore antisemitism is justified. This belief is commonly held and expressed by Christian antisemites, but is obviously wrong and bigoted, so people argue against it - the idea the Pontius Pilate is responsible for Jesus’ death is just a bad argument, you might as well blame Herod who had the opportunity to punish/pardon Jesus but opted to send him back to Pilate.