No, it’s because he was annoying in general. Being a racist caricature was just a part of that, and to be honest I think a lot of people used that as a post hoc justification to hate on Jar Jar after they had decided they didn’t like him.
Fans who took star wars seriously disliked him because he was so very, very much a silly, over the top comic relief character. They’d have hated him regardless of whether he was racist or not.
Other people who were aware of the… shall we say “unfortunate”… parallels to minstrel show old-timey racism were appalled by what they perceived as, basically, a caricature of a black person/unsophisticated native as a bumbling idiot. They were also appalled at the trade federation for filling the yellow peril racist stereotype.
(This makes them easy to tell apart. Group 2 dislikes both, group 1 mostly dislikes Jar Jar alone. And there is overlap on that Venn diagram).
And finally, some people disliked him for the exact same reason they disliked scappy-doo or any other superfluous annoying character – he detracted from the rest of the movie. Not that it was high art to begin with, but it could have been soooo much better if Lucas had people willing to veto him and act as a sounding board.
Jar Jar became the shorthand for everything wrong with the prequels; basically the critics’ and fandom’s whipping boy.
I heard that the original plan for Jar Jar was to have a prominent role in all three prequels, as a cute, silly character that would appeal to kids… who would then be killed by Anakin Skywalker after he becomes Darth Vader to illustrate that the sweet kid is fully evil now. The overwhelming negative reaction forced them to scrap that idea.
hmm, if I knew a character had turned out to be reviled by the masses then I’d be tempted to stick to my plan and have him killed. the people who hated him would love it
MOVIEBOB CENTRAL 
Uh, wasn’t this character mostly hated due to being perceived as a racist caricature?
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No, it’s because he was annoying in general. Being a racist caricature was just a part of that, and to be honest I think a lot of people used that as a post hoc justification to hate on Jar Jar after they had decided they didn’t like him.
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Depends on who you ask.
Fans who took star wars seriously disliked him because he was so very, very much a silly, over the top comic relief character. They’d have hated him regardless of whether he was racist or not.
Other people who were aware of the… shall we say “unfortunate”… parallels to minstrel show old-timey racism were appalled by what they perceived as, basically, a caricature of a black person/unsophisticated native as a bumbling idiot. They were also appalled at the trade federation for filling the yellow peril racist stereotype.
(This makes them easy to tell apart. Group 2 dislikes both, group 1 mostly dislikes Jar Jar alone. And there is overlap on that Venn diagram).
And finally, some people disliked him for the exact same reason they disliked scappy-doo or any other superfluous annoying character – he detracted from the rest of the movie. Not that it was high art to begin with, but it could have been soooo much better if Lucas had people willing to veto him and act as a sounding board.
Jar Jar became the shorthand for everything wrong with the prequels; basically the critics’ and fandom’s whipping boy.
LikeLike
I heard that the original plan for Jar Jar was to have a prominent role in all three prequels, as a cute, silly character that would appeal to kids… who would then be killed by Anakin Skywalker after he becomes Darth Vader to illustrate that the sweet kid is fully evil now. The overwhelming negative reaction forced them to scrap that idea.
LikeLike
hmm, if I knew a character had turned out to be reviled by the masses then I’d be tempted to stick to my plan and have him killed. the people who hated him would love it
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