It's a reasonable thought that Metheny was referring to Wynton Marsalis. Marsalis was highly controversial — "polarizing" might be a better word — in the early 1980s. In particular, Marsalis advocated for earlier styles of jazz rather than the more progressive leanings of Metheny and others.
In 1980, while studying at Julliard for a career in classical music, Wynton began gigging with Art Blakey. This led him to shift directions and focus his career on jazz. However, he brought something of a classical aesthetic and practice to the art. His bands often read charts off of stands, wore suits, and played music, or music based on, styles of jazz prominent before around 1965 when more experimental styles came to the fore.
Wynton was particularly outspoken about electronic and rock-influenced jazz. That's probably a big part of what irks Metheny, since he was and is very much at the forefront of those movements. He and others, like Miles Davis most notably, were critical of Marsalis for taking jazz backwards, while Marsalis criticized them for betraying jazz and moving into other forms of music.
Further, Marsalis's father, Ellis, was a jazz pianist who played primarily earlier styles of jazz. It's easy to interpret Metheny as taking a swipe at Wynton for "playing for his parents" in both the literal sense of trying to please his father and also in the sense of playing for an older generation audience that preferred more traditional jazz music.