A good point. But I do remember that, in 1991, Diego Maradonna was crucified in the English-language press for being a "drug addict that needs to disappear into some dark back alley and overdose on something so that we don't have to think about him anymore". While, in the exact same issue of the same publications it was written that we must pity our beloved George Best, who had destroyed his liver and his health with an alochol addiction. That we should all line up and donate our livers to this fallen icon of sport.
Unequal treatment for similar maladies. The reason? I always suspected it was that one was Argentine and the other British. You cannot say that it was because of stature as a footballer, because they were two of the greatest ever.