LOTR fans, especially Tolkien purists, aren't vapid and mindless drones like MCU fans. The average Tolkien fan is way smarter and more in tune with what is going on with the IP than any other. We've also seen this deflection playbook a dozen times already with terrible adaptations in the last several years. It didn't work for Ghostbusters 2016, it didn't work for Netflix (TWICE IN THE LAST YEAR!) and it hasn't worked for Amazon either. People aren't stupid and we see what is going on.