Given Shatner's prior comments on the subject, it's obvious that Bezos is paying Shatner a lot of money to be able to advertise that Captain Kirk flew on a Blue Origin rocket. Definitely the sort of thing that a competitor that knows that it is behind and is willing to do/pay anything to get ahead would do.
Shatner does seem to always want to make a buck, but at 90, with all those years of conventions, meet and greets, and sweet TJ Hooker royalty checks, doesn't he have enough money?
He has three kids, presumably a good few grandkids by now. Not sure how morbid his outlook is but if I were 90 I might look at this as an opportunity to make an even bigger pile of cash I can pass down to my descendants... I'm going out soon anyway, so why not?
Exactly. Live and you pad your pockets. Die and you pad your heirs pockets. You were already 90 in medium-poor health anyway and not many people get a chance to go to space in any capacity. Having "fabulously wealthy entertainer and space tourist" on your gravestone is better than just "fabulously wealthy entertainer". All the upsides are still there but the risk side of the equation is much lower at 90 than at 80.
You are, of course, correct. In fact, the article even states that explicitly. My comment was a [too?] subtle snarky reference to a famous 1963 episode of the Twilight Zone starring Shatner, in which there was "a man on the wing!". "Nightmare at 20,000 ft" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXHKDb0CNjA
