Also, it probably helped kneecap the popularity of Tolkien-style “Always Chaotic Evil” (TV Tropes page) races/species, by virtue of making the racialised elements much more difficult to ignore.
As TV Tropes’ analysis page notes, however, there are a fair few ways to make Evil Minionstm without throwing any racial baggage into the mix - ways that have let the base trope survive the change in political climate, even as its original version fell out of favour.
Also, it probably helped kneecap the popularity of Tolkien-style “Always Chaotic Evil” (TV Tropes page) races/species, by virtue of making the racialised elements much more difficult to ignore.
As TV Tropes’ analysis page notes, however, there are a fair few ways to make Evil Minionstm without throwing any racial baggage into the mix - ways that have let the base trope survive the change in political climate, even as its original version fell out of favour.