"Don't look him up, he's not exactly role model material." I don't admire the ethos of putting people in bad boxes.
I think enough of us have imperfections that we can appreciate that people who've done wonderful things have also done some very $#!tty things. Someone doesn't need to be a saint to still have a wide, positive influence.
It also instigates people to look at the worst in others. Don't think about pink elephants!
On the otherhand, I greatly appreciate that we don't pretend everyone is 100% awesome all the time. We shouldn't hold people up as role models that we don't want to emulate, and whatnot.