This is a common misconception. The Kelly criterion maximises growth when the wealth compounds multiplicatively. It makes no assumption about the shape of utility.

In other words, it's prescriptive, not descriptive. The Kelly criterion says that if you want to maximise growth, you should adopt log utility. If you don't have log utility, you won't maximise growth.

(Though, as you point out, maximising growth isn't the only goal possible -- limiting drawdown is another useful goal. The linear combination of "no bet" and "full Kelly" is an optimal frontier that maximises growth given a particular limit to drawdown.)