Here's the quote.
“Some people might wonder, you know, because the title is Zelda – it’s a female character – why isn’t the protagonist a female character? But really, to me, The Legend of Zelda, the main series, Link is the protagonist. So if you look at something like Hyrule Warriors, where there are multiple characters, then you know you can use different types of characters.”
It is weird that they always answers as "Zelda will never be the protagonist" while people are asking to LINK be reincarnated as a woman because we FUCKING GET IT, the protagonist of Zelda HAS TO BE LINK, needs to be SOMEONE WITH THE TRIFORCE OF COURAGE but how about THAT be a girl ?
But well ... they already said that they DO listen to fan backlash ...
It doesn't sound like they've ever seriously considered that Link would simply be reincarnated as a woman.