I don't think that's what's going on here. Steve Yegge is notorious for his overly-long blog posts. I got a chuckle at the comment, and I think that kind of offhand joke is what Brin intended.
This looks like an inside joke pulled out of context by the reporter. Maybe Brin made an error in speaking to his audience, but I don't think this comment was as damaging as you're making it out to be.
The Internet peanut gallery has decided that any number of people are notorious for any number of things. That doesn't make it OK for someone's employer to berate them about it on stage.
This looks like an inside joke pulled out of context by the reporter. Maybe Brin made an error in speaking to his audience, but I don't think this comment was as damaging as you're making it out to be.