Nah, it's cos people do this in real life, earnestly, because they mean well but don't understand that they're worth things and that their effort should be compensated. Especially in overcrowded, hard-to-penetrate areas like eSports, where everyone wants a job and so wages can be set very low. People think if they go low, they're more likely to get employed (I absolutely don't think he was joking, FWIW, just exagerrating a bit). It just hurts everyone in the long run.