Lovecraft was a product of the times. Nobody expects authors from back then to be very liberal on their worldviews in many regards. The good thing about his horror works is that they focus on things very unrelated to such topics most of the time.
Actually, Lovecraft rejected his times and was repelled by modernity, instead affecting writing styles and attitudes from a century before. His contemporaries, friends, and even his wife called him out on his racism and antisemitism (she was Jewish and really didn't care for that last point). So if by "product of the times" you mean the 18th century, rather than the early 20th century that he actually lived in, then I'll give you that point.
At most you could attribute that to the 19th century, but Lovecraft's rejection of modernity does not pertain to liberal views on racism or anti-semitism as far as I am aware. He hated technological advancement, because it scared him (well what didn't scare this guy?).
And while I do agree that he was an extreme case even among his contemporaries, his racist views were not uncommon in the early 20th century and anti-semitism is one of the most consistent elements of European and American society from the middle ages to the late 20th century.
Though one point that really shows his aggressively xenophobic views is his hatred of the Welsh and the fact that his Welsh blood made him disgusted of himself.
PS: I ask you kindly to take me out of that post Nezchan. I was not part of the argument and if you just shove me in there while ignoring the cause of it all, you are doing nobody favors.
last edited at Jan 6, 2020 12:03PM