For better or for worse (I think for the better), CoffeeScript is fully interoperable with JavaScript. The runtime characteristics and the lowest-common-denominator ES3 support are such that you can use it just about anywhere you might want to use JS. That, and a modicum of success, means that JS programmers sometimes stumble across it in unexpected places, only after popping the hood. e.g. "I thought I was just using a simple library -- Eauggh! What is that stuff down there!" This makes it very hard to ignore...
As a JavaScript programmer, you're forced to ask yourself the question, "Why haven't I given CoffeeScript a real try yet?" Not all, but a large part of the dislike comes from folks rationalizing their response to that question to themselves.
tl;dr, CoffeeScript is almost perfectly situated to inspire fear and loathing in JavaScript programmers with closed minds.