Scott Moore wrote:
I agree. The controller took the chance that he might have to explain his
actions later. The pilot can take the chance that he might have to explain
HIS actions later (declaring the emergency). Both explainations can be
delivered in a nice dry building.

The pilot was already holding at the IAF for an approach to an airport
he could have landed at. I would love to hear the explanation of how
that turns into an emergency which forces him to proceed to his
original destination along a route he had been told was no longer
available to him.

Damned inconvenient and annoying, yes. But damned inconvenient and
annoying does not an emergency make.