When Paul Walker died, we were flooded with media reports of his death. Heck, he even seemed to get more press than Nelson Mandela did after his death only a few days later.

Honestly, I thought he was a great actor but was perplexed by the amount of attention Paul Walker got. Was it because of the sudden and dramatic way he died (in a car crash)? Was it because of all of his ‘good works’ and sparkling personality?

From the very first news of his death, I had an uncomfortable feeling about the situation. And then, I finally was able to put my finger on it: Paul Walker was 40, had a 15-year-old daughter…and a 23-year-old live-in girlfriend.

At first I heard the ages and didn’t think too much of it (I mean, that age difference is a bit ridiculous, but Hollywood has seen stranger things), but then I heard an E! News reporter mention that they had been dating for almost eight years. When I did the math, I realized she was only 16 and Walker was 33 when they started dating. Disgusting!

Bombarded with all the pro-Paul Walker goodwill stories, I tried to keep my disgust at bay. But report after report failed to give any attention to the fact that he had courted a child (and for the second time–he had dated a 16-year old before her).

Later, some blogs and even news outlets picked up the story, but failed to address the underlying fact head-on: Paul Walker is a repeat-offender pedophile.

You might say ‘Pedophile is too strong a word! Pedophilia only pertains to small children.’ But are you forgetting the fact that a 16-year-old IS a child, small or not?

I’ve tried to keep my opinions to myself (if you can call it that, some may argue the legality of the situation but I think it’s pretty clear morally). Paul Walker’s relationship with Jasmine, and Aubrianna before Jasmine, was inappropriate. It was inappropriate no matter what the “consenting” age was, or how long the relationship lasted.

Besides the fact that a child’s brain (yes, I am calling a teenager a child, a 16-year-old cannot be considered a woman) and reasoning abilities are not fully developed until around age 21 (this is not an opinion, this is science), a 16-year-old can easily fall prey to men like Walker who are likely attracted to her physical innocence, naivete and intense loyalty falsely created by hard-to-manage teenage hormones.

Don’t take my word for it. Just ask blogger Alexis Rhiannon, whose “Paul Walker was Wrong to Date a 16-Year-Old…and I Know That From Experience” post explains how she herself was duped as a child into believing that an older man that she dated was a romantic interest rather than what he was: A sexual predator.

Assuming you have gone through many of the life experiences of becoming an adult (which is clearly, legally, after the age of 18), such as living on your own, going to college, working full-time, possibly raising a family–can you go back in time and remember your 16-year-old frame of mind? I can: I was sulking in my room drawing artsy pictures of sad profiles and worrying about what boys at school with spiky hair thought of me.

If you are in your mid 20s to mid-30s right now (as Paul was when he met her), can you imagine yourself taking a sophomore in high school out on a date? Talking about home room teachers and pep rallies and SATs over a nice dinner? Taking their VIRGINITY? Taking that person to their junior and/or senior prom, to high school graduation? And then allowing that person to move in with you (you at the age of 40) and babysit your child who is just eight years younger than your girlfriend or boyfriend?

Please…please, do not say the bit about how “love knows no age” or that some people are just “more mature at that age than others.” You are just contributing to society’s view that this behavior is okay.

It is not okay. Not even if you are Paul Walker (RIP).

I’ve said my peace–I just can’t hear anymore about what a great guy he was. We often choose to remember the best about people who have passed, and forget the worst. But this is a learning opportunity, for pop culture and for society. Please don’t brush this off or try to justify this situation, but create an expectation that this is unacceptable.