Here is an off the wall thought. Maybe ol' Tony died. And instead of the usual "finished his earthly course" announcement WT did it the way they did as a method of jerking exJW's chains? Meanwhile they are sitting in their expensive office chairs laughing their a--es off at all the speculation.
BTW, he has not been scrubbed from their website. As of this morning there are 39 photos of him appearing in videos.