Imho that's not entirely true. Pelé used his own image to try to make Brazil a better place to his people and to contribute to the sport, sometimes even in a naive and childish way.

He certainly wasn't a perfect person, with controversial attitudes throughout his life, but let's remember that he had humble beginnings like many black poor boys in Brazil whose destiny was to starve and, at least publicly, he always acted as a citizen of the world trying to sell a good image from Brazil. he was never involved in drugs.