Do we really think George cares? He did in fact release the OUT on disc, just lazily and cheaply. And he has approved screenings of OUT prints. I think it’s more he never wanted to spend the millions to restore them, given they’re not his preferred version. If someone else spends the money, which Disney appears to be, I doubt he’d care so long as his preferred versions also remain available.
One might think that although George detests the OUT version and didn’t want to invest anything in that version but did in the SE version, he allows the original to be seen if you find a way to do so on your own, or even if someone restores the OUT version, he doesn’t care as long as they maintain the SE version. This is a new perspective that may be true. George could easily think, “Hey, I’m not going to release this version because I don’t like it and I’m not going to invest in it, but if someone wants to, go ahead.”