shitcoins like ethereum can't solve their own limited functionality and the backdoors they have let alone attempt at bigger more serious stuff that bitcoin is dealing with 
Shitcoin or not, it helped cryptocurrency adoption to some extent, no ethereum, no ICOs, no developments in cryptocurrency world (ICOs helped whether you believe it or not).
Because of successful ICO we have seen an increase of overall marketcap and it introduce as to the new project that are still here now in the market.
Maybe Vitalik has been bias with his statement because every founder would also praise their own before the other, so nothing is wrong with that.