Taleb had skin in the game with the pandemic.
I think in The Black Swan (or maybe FbR) he theorized about a global pandemic being major BS - unexpected super high-imoact event that would ratlle the world.
When it then actually came to be, he could picture himself -once more- as this prophetic superhero who" told y'all so".
He was essentially falling for his own narrative, and thought he hit the jackpot by being right another time. Which has turned him into an even bigger asshole ..
What a sad character