The former Leicester, Liverpool, Wigan and - dare I say it - Birmingham City centre forward has never won over every fan at a club.
He has also had his fair share of knockers at international level.
Despite featuring and starring in one of England's greatest ever wins on foreign soil - the 5-1 win in Berlin against Germany - Heskey is still disliked by many.
The predominant reason for the scarce amount of Emile loving is his lack of goals.
The powerful front man has a league ratio of nearly one goal to every four games. Since he joined Villa he has hit the target just twice in nine appearances leading to some strong criticism from the Claret and Blue faithful.
Heskey's arrival at Villa Park has coincided with the poor run of form for his new side.
Many have blamed the ex-Bluenose for this alarming slump with plenty of anti-Heskey jokes being bandied around workplaces in the Midlands.
He has been criticised for Villa's change from a successful 4-5-1 formation to a more traditional 4-4-2 system. He has been demonised for keeping terrace hero John Carew out of the side. And some have even found time to claim that is it he who has caused Gabby Agbonlahor's recent goal drought. All of these insinuations are simply ridiculous.
Irrational
Okay, so Heskey may not be the most prolific of finishers but for one he does not pick the team. Neither does he choose who he plays with. And he is certainly not responsible for anyone other than himself when on a football pitch.
Heskey, may have merited some criticism in the past but on this occasion most of the negativity directed at him is unfounded and blatantly unfair.
Villa fans are angry that Martin O'Neill chose to bring in Heskey, whilst Arsenal clinshed the signature of Andrei Arshavin. For many, that is the biggest reason why the Gunners are now almost home and dry in the chase for fourth.
But surely the fault lies with the manager here. Heskey wasn't responsible for the transfer policy.
He is a £3.5m centre forward, an international striker at that, who quite frankly was a bargain in a January window which is famous for its irrational big money transfers.
Arshavin actually cost £15m. Could Villa really afford that? Even if they could - would he actually have wanted to join the Claret and Blue ahead of the glamorous Gunners?
O'Neill did well to sign Heskey, the only problem was that he did not sign a few more players to boot.
The lack of transfer activity at Villa Park led to an embarrassing UEFA Cup departure at the hands of CSKA Moscow and an F.A. Cup exit at Everton.
The squad is simply not big enough. This is not Heskey's fault either.
Gargantuan
The fact that Villa have not won for 11 games should not lead to such criticism for a man who has played little part in the majority of those encounters.
Unfortunately Heskey has been sidelined through injury recently but he returned on Saturday to put in a gargantuan display against West Ham.
The Hammers defence, including England centre back Matthew Upson, could not handle the big man. He played in exactly the same manner against Chelsea at Villa Park.
Even the great John Terry had trouble coping with the power and prowess of his international teammate Heskey. That in turn led to opportunities for Gareth Barry and Agbonlahor that simply wouldn't have occurred had Heskey not battered the Blues' backline into submission.
Now, this may seem like a long rambling Heskey love fest, but the cruel criticism needs to be addressed and quickly.
It has become particularly extreme of latewith some Villa-MAD messageboard posters claiming that he is "not good enough to wear the Villa jersey" and "not only is he a poor finisher but he's unlucky in front of goal".
These remarks are not beneficial to Villa and they are certainly not beneficial to Heskey.
The 31 year-old seems to be an outlet for the dumping of recent frustrations. This needs to stop and Heskey needs to be given a real chance to show what he is made of. Nine games is just not enough.
Heskey is at the top of agenda as far as O'Neill and Fabio Capello are concerned and surely they can't both be wrong can they?