It's not even a question of "how bad". There was way too much PR given how immature the project was, at least at the time. I don't think the author had had a lot of experience as a language designer / compiler implementer when the project was started. One advertised feature of the compiler was its supposed simplicity, such as getting along without an AST. I doubt this was a good choice and I think they ended up adding one in.
In my perception it was mostly sold as a piece of engineering by PR like this (quote from OP): Cheapest server $160 $20 $3.50 [2]
"Lots" is very, very subjective. What country do you live in? I would say (as an appreciative donor/patron myself) there has been very, very little in the way of direct donations to the founder himself. This is no "get rich quick" scheme. Frankly I don't know of any programming language that's ever been such a quickie in this regard.
I generally encourage new programming language efforts, so I'm willing to be more generous with forgiveness in the hopes that this succeeds.