Not trying to defend him but this isn’t a fair characterization of his intellect since he was 15 years younger and tech industry was very interested in doing good back then.

I am of similar age to him and was in the tech industry at the time. It struck me at the time as a collosally dumb move and proof that he wasn't a smart guy. That is literally the point of my comment.

There are a number of possible interpretations. One is that he was incapable of researching how stupid he was being in that moment. Another is that he didn't care about that and he did it only to improve his image. Few of the interpretations I can think of have him looking great.