comparing 2014/2015 robert to kev is so wild because he was, for the most part, very much treated like a villain during that time in the show and the show knew it? and his actions then still hangs over him now over 10 years later? you can't do the "oh you liked this character when he did all that horrible stuff but somehow hate this other character when he's also done horrible stuff" argument because the writing for robert then actually had purpose and clarity and his actions was clearly and succinctly framed as pretty damn awful.
what consequences has kev faced exactly? he's about to come back to the show and get a nice little warm story with his son and one of the worst things he did (stabbing himself to manipulate robert into marriage) will probably never be brought up again. like, its cool if you like the character but you'll never get me to buy into this idea that liking one character who did awful things means you're not allowed to criticize/dislike other characters. there's levels to this and it's all in the writing.
and please note, i'm not one of those people who immediately hated the kev stuff when they first introduced that character. i was actually pretty chill and open about it so i like to think i'm pretty clear-minded about how that story ultimately went.