Creator Worship: Is a huge fan of Bob Clampett, although he strongly insists that it's important for any artist to have a far wider range of influences than any one director.
Never Live It Down: He has deeply regretted some of the decisions he made in his works, such as his use of ) shaped eyes (which he only meant for the storyboards and never actually wanted them in the final cartoons) as well as many of the mistakes he made in his cartoons, such as one scene of Stimpy's eyes defying proper perspective (which was a sloppy mistake, but "everyone thought it was on purpose") and claiming that many TV cartoons had made "whole styles out of his mistakes."
Overshadowed by Controversy: John K faced rape and pedophilia allegations from two animators. It doesn't help that he drew scantily clad underage girls.
Scapegoat Creator: He is largely blamed for the failure of Ren and Stimpy: AdultPartyCartoon, with fans claiming that he got too much creative freedom on the latter which "ruined" the show--even though John has pointed out that the show still went through Executive Meddling and censorship, forcing him to put in excessive adult humor ala South Park.