Perl's sprintf had a bug that can cause buffer overflow and therefore execution of arbitrary code. A particular actual real live vulnerability due to this exists in webmin. So although many of the "blurblurgitators" probably are misinformed to some extent, there was a real security hole in perl.

I also don't think it was a coordinated smear campaign. There are plenty of people who'll gloat and cheer at a hole found in rival language - no need for coordination :).