In all fairness $136 isn't really serious amount of money to be collected and it can be a little bit trickier for someone who isn't used to Bitcoin. I wouldn't bother to collect it as well.
Linus is a public figure, so you can bet that some people would spin his acceptance of a BTC tip into something bizarre, something like "The father of Linux embraces virtual drug money".
Does he need this headache even if a chance of it is small? Not for $136 :)