There's a lot to unpack here.
Defining Kobe's life based on the rape/sexual assault/whatever you want to call it is silly, but so is dismissing those who have made it a talking point the last couple days. Did Kobe have positive impacts on people and inspire folks to take up a sport? Most certainly. Did he donate money? Yeah. Did he have people look up to him as an inspiration or hero? Sure. He had a positive impact on many lives. He was a lot of things, all people are. But the positives don't cancel out the negatives.
Say the woman he allegedly raped was sexually active after the incident? What of it? Who are we to define how she should and shouldn't handle a traumatic event? What if she was sexually active before the event? What does that change? Trauma's a very personal thing and for women that's even more the case when their power is taken away and their autonomy and bodies are violated. Men go through trauma when raped and assaulted too, I'm not going to minimize that. But men aren't sexualized the same way as women and there isn't the same type of stigma surrounding male sexuality as female sexuality. There was a lot of victim blaming going on when the incident happened, that hasn't changed.
Most women who are raped and assaulted don't come forward, there's a lot of victim blaming that goes on and unfortunately many women simply aren't taken seriously. This is true on many levels (legally, socially, culturally, politically, ect). There's a lot of danger that comes with speaking up, particularly when the person being accused is in a position of power (and that power can look a lot of different ways and be wrapped up in a lot of different roles and positions). And sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape, ect happens a lottttt more frequently than a lot of folks realize.
For some folks it will be about dragging Kobe's name through the mud, but for many it won't be. It's not a black and white thing. This was a wealthy, powerful, influential man who was involved in a high profile case and he's perceived as a rapist by many (if the discussions all over the internet the last couple days don't make this clear I don't know what will). He's being celebrated and mourned all over the world, his name and face plaster blogs, newspapers, websites and magazines the world over. His legacy is being talked about, his story is being retold. There's nothing wrong with celebrating his accomplishments and mourning his loss, but many perceive this through the lens of a person who's been raped, sexually assaulted, ect. Many aren't seeing this as the celebration and mourning of a great man, many view this as the celebration of a man who had his way with a woman and walked free.
There is no single way of approaching the media circus that this scenario has become, there's probably not even a "right way". But there are many perspectives related to this accident and the "Kobe was a rapist" view is just as valid as mourning him as a man, hero or sports titan. It's possible to feel sadness for those Kobe left behind (his family, teammates, friends, fans), feel sadness for the other (less talked about) victims of the crash, acknowledge Kobe as the iconic athlete he was and believe victims of sexual violence. It's complicated, absolutely, but that's life.