This hatred of Gervais i think spouts from one of two things, or maybe even both:
1) His undeniable talent and the jealousy of that talent.
2) Failure to realise that he plays a CHARACTER.
He's a great comedy writer, a great comedy actor, a great stand up, and will probably soon show his talents outside the comedy industry. If you can't see that you are delusional.
It is also astonishing that people still don't get he plays a character. Andy Millmen and David Brent are not Ricky Gervais. I'd also like to remind people of the reaction he got from the skit he did a Comic Relief, when he got a press bashing for ACTING, though Bono, Jamie Oliver, etc never got a bad word said to them for ACTING in the SAME skit. It boggles the mind. I am putting it down to jealousy and short-sight.