I don't think he's lying to us. I think he genuinely believes that everyone is using it wrong.

Although that's not much of a defense when he was the one who invented the wrong ways to use it.

It's hard to get a man to understand something when his salary (or hobby or self-image) depends on his not understanding it.

It’s probably not a coincidence that he’s the author of the famous quote that may and is often used to deflect any and all criticism of a programming language.