He also looked at several sites before asking chatGPT to see what other options it would recommend, and he specifically says he asks it because that's what a lay person would do, in those eyes I would say that a journalist that doesn't ask chatGPT for this would be a bad one. Also, these are the first 3 links from my search:

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux4noobs/comments/1lpmmwj/what_is_the_best_linux_distro_for_mostly_gaming/

Top comment says Pop.

https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/top-linux-gaming-distributions-2026-play-better-open-source

First item is SteamOS, the one after that is Pop.

https://www.interserver.net/tips/kb/6-best-linux-distros-for-gaming-and-playing-windows-games/

N°1 on the List is Pop

Even being generic about best distro for beginners without mentioning gaming at all

https://linuxblog.io/best-linux-distro/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-best-linux-distros-for-beginners-in-2025-make-switching-from-macos-or-windows-easy/

https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/top-linux-distributions-beginners-friendly-stable-and-easy-learn

All 3 of them list Pop, so it's not surprising that someone looks at 6 different sites, sees multiple recommendations, one of which appears in all 6 of them and at the top for gaming specific ones and decides to use it.

You might not like it, you might have issues with it, but to say it's not widely recommended is disingenuous.