I completely agree that here are lots of great developers without a public figure.

However, having one gives the interviewer some additional insights about you. While no candidate should be discarded for not having public code, I don't think dismissing it completely without even looking at it is correct, because you are discarding a great source of information about a candidate.

Note that the insight could even be negative (such as a candidate applying to a senior position with sub-par public code recently written)