That's Martin in a nutshell. He loves to say, "Fuck you!" to the fans - all the way to the bank.
Martin also said, "Fuck you!" when he killed off Ned, Rob, John and the rest. He thinks he's cool writing super edgy stories and not "fairy tales." That's fine to a point, but good story telling also needs meaningful characters the reader actually cares about. When readers no longer want to get emotionally invested in any of the characters, the story telling is much less effective. That's why the latest books have sucked ass. His opus is now read and watched primarily for shock value and just to see what crazy shit happens next.