Most likely this is because orange cats are almost always male, and (neutered) male cats tend to be goofier than females.
I think the association with discrimination against red haired humans is a stretch though
I think the association with discrimination against red haired humans is a stretch though
Compare that to tortoiseshell or calico cats, which requires two different color genes (with calico requiring the "white spotted" gene in addition to two colors). That means something unusual usually has to happen for those colors to occur in male cats, which is why less than 0.1% of calicos are male.