Allen Iverson said Thursday that Kobe Bryant is a victim of his own reputation, one erroneously built by a fawning media.

"I feel like, in this situation, it has to be something, because you can go get Allen Iverson, because Allen Iverson's had brushes with the law before, but to go get Kobe Bryant, 'the squeaky clean human being,' it's got to be something," Iverson, the star guard of the Philadelphia 76ers, said to ESPN.

Bryant has been charged with felony sexual assault on a 19-year-old woman near Eagle, Colo.

"I wasn't shocked at all," said Iverson, who could be a teammate of the Laker guard on next year's U.S. Olympic team. "He's a human being. The media made Kobe Bryant who Kobe Bryant is. The media made him squeaky clean.

"Y'all say he's squeaky clean, but we say he's a human being."