Kobe Bryant is one of the most skilled, competitive and hardworking players the NBA has ever seen. Even after a series of debilitating injuries, he dropped 60 points in his last game ever against the Utah Jazz—quite the way to go out.

It was more than a game, though; it was a ceremony. People paid up to $25,000 to watch Kobe grace the court one last time. If I were a Lakers fan, I too would have loved to watch one of the greatest basketball players ever go out in glory, but that glory is stained.

“The Black Mamba” is poisonous—not only in skill, but in his ability to persuade people to forget clear-cut evidence against him. Most of America forgets that he was handed serious criminal charges. Instead, we remember the three-peat from 2000 to 2002, not the “accusations” from 2003.

Statistics published by the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, from leading researchers on sexual assault and athletes, Jeff Benedict and Todd Crosset, show that athletes are more likely to commit sex crimes than average citizens, but society continues to give athletes like Kobe a pass, turning a blind eye. As Aliko Carter of Forbes Magazine put it, in America especially, “we alter our moral compasses to accommodate [the] behavior[s]” of athletes like Kobe Bryant. Five minutes of watching the Kobe finale coverage makes this abundantly clear. Everybody seems to have forgotten about these allegations.

Charged with sexual assault—a felony—Kobe was never convicted, continuing to support statistics from the same study that show that athletes are less likely to be prosecuted or convicted for these crimes than the average citizen. Teams can’t bring home banners with superstars behind bars, so the 24-year-old, 6’ 6” guard settled in a civil suit behind closed doors through his immense wealth and resources as one of America’s top and most revered athletes.

The facts point to an outcome that society was quick to dismiss and forget as he earned five rings. The night of June 30, 2003 was a night that America should at least remember as more than a blemish in his story, but Kobe and others made the victim out to be the criminal, regardless of the “groping, grabbing and choking” detailed in police interview transcripts. People want him to be innocent. Unlike other high-profile cases of sexual assault no drugs or alcohol were involved, and society has helped Kobe sweep this all under the rug. Medical trauma was consistent with her description of the events of that night, but even with blood, hair and other forms of evidence, the detectives made it clear at the start that they weren’t there “to destroy [his] image or [his] career” because in America we largely ignore even potential sexual assault when athletes like Kobe are the perpetrators. There’s no pedestal for athletes in jail, which is why society tries so hard to keep them out.

Nonetheless, an undisclosed settlement and a public apology has made society largely forget the incident, which is disgusting in the face of all the evidence presented. The criminal charges may have been dropped, but the allegations are a large part of Kobe’s forgotten history. It’s despicable that Nike profited off his image following these events as “The Black Mamba.”

Nike isn’t the only one at fault. Our culture is so obsessed with sports that we confuse athleticism with invincibility and purity. Why a professional athlete doesn’t need to be held accountable for his crime is beyond me. Our society only holds athletes like Kobe accountable for bringing home championships, relegating things like serious rape allegations to the margins of his grand narrative.

Kobe may have “sat here in front of [us] guys furious at [him]self” back then, but it has since led to “a collective case of amnesia among the fans and members of the media alike,” as Cole Kazdin of Vice commented. This “amnesia” will be there until society and Lakers fans alike call out Kobe for what he is and see beyond his athleticism. Kobe may be a legend, but his legend is tainted.