LokiStack as logStore, custom outputs in ClusterLogForwarder always return "degraded pipelines: invalid [], degraded [application-logs]' error

Issue

• ClusterLogForwarder shows a pipeline as invalid while using Loki operator and forwarding logs to external log aggregator:

--------- Output Omitted ---------
spec:
  outputs:
    - name: external-fluentd
      type: fluentdForward
      url: 'tcp://abc.example.com:24224'
  pipelines:
    - inputRefs:
        - application
      name: application-logs
      outputRefs:
        - default
        - application-logs
status:
  conditions:
    - lastTransitionTime: '2022-09-13T15:10:44Z'
      message: 'degraded pipelines: invalid [], degraded [application-logs]'
      reason: Invalid
      status: 'True'
      type: Degraded
--------- Output Omitted ---------

• Unable to forward logs to external log aggregator when using Loki operator.