It's called gallows humor. It's a defense mechanism, a response to what one sees as a hopeless situation.

Not saying it is or is not appropriate in this situation, but it's not much different than saying "I'd rather die than go to that meeting" or "this is hell" or "if I have to maintain that legacy codebase, just shoot me now".

You'd be surprised what people are willing to put up with, even when they're not literal slaves. Ben Farrell was just the tip of the iceberg. AAPL is just AMZN with better press and intra-organizational warfare that puts Ballmer-era MSFT to shame.