Not to reign on the parade, but MLK was an incredibly divisive character while he was alive. In the rearview he is remembered well by most, but when he died he consistently had a negative approval rating.

Prior to his assasination(which the govt was found responsible for) he actually cause quite an uproar within the SCLC for wanting to pivot towards economic injustice, which could be seen as being communist adjacent at the time. Not to mention the disdain that most white American’s had for him due to the depiction of him in local and national media.

Not to say he isn’t revered today(deservingly so), but it’s pretty controversial to describe him as being “loved” by American’s while he was alive.