I wouldnt say it was exactly like that. I was there when it was written. It was heavily pushed by a certain annoying subreddit after the initial cheating allegations because it was a funny story and shitstorming it was the funniest thing ever. Only then it has reached main chess subreddit, though that some grandmasters, through them other grandmasters and through them it reached the media. Just somewhere along the line someone missed that it was supposed to be a joke