BT guy –
actually the gemara does discuss him, and does describe him as one with a faulty character, if not an apikores. He was expelled from one of the yeshivas of the time for his faulty character, as demonstrated by his having looked at a women’s eyes, and then commenting on them, which at that time was not done by anyone. I have to check on the apikorsus, but I’m pretty sure that he is branded as one even in the gemara. In such a case, the laws of loshon horah do not apply.