It does.
I've often wondered why they don't get the same vitriol. I think it's mainly because they're still attached to physical formalisms: gauge theories, algebras, known symmetries and conservation laws, etc. It at least has some constraints, even if they're not testable.
Back 20 years ago when Wolfram released A New Kind of Science, my GR teacher said about that book: "Science makes predictions, not press statements." Even Hawking got in a lot of trouble in his later years when he'd announce all those extreme claims and walk them down without ever publishing anything. It really surprises me how much press coverage this guy can get over 2 decades without actually making a theoretically testable prediction.