Sounds like Gates might be trying to get ahead of something he knows is on the way.
Gates no doubt sees what threatens or is already happening. No more honorary degrees and public awards, with revocations perhaps of those that he has received. No university buildings named for him in return for big contributions. His foundation falling into question. His kids taking up their mother's maiden last name. Only a limited role in family gatherings and diminished contact with the grandchildren. A risk of getting heckled whenever he appears in public.
Gates must at times wonder how he could suffer such a turn. His immense wealth and success was supposed to make people always at least pretend to like him and to ignore or forgive his derelictions. Now Gates finds that his money and fame no longer give him immunity but make him a target. It is all so unfair that the rules seem to have changed -- but so fully deserved because the rules have not changed.
Gates should have paid more attention in that freshman Introduction to Western Civ course at Harvard. Not only is the God of the Jews and Christians not to be mocked, but as the Greeks knew, Nemesis, the just balancer of Fortune, may appear at a time of her choosing but usually toward the end. And apologies are never enough to stop her.