I think the problem lies in a complete overhaul of the games main story less then 1,5 years ago when keanu came onboard, in earlier gameplay there was no hint of silverhand being in the game the radio even said he died just 1 year prior presumably to old age and character creation had johnny being 1 out of 3 'idols' I think all these minor plot threads had their work completely stopped in order to work on the new johnny focused story, or rework already existing content to fit.