Valeria Chomsky says Epstein had deceived them and they were ‘careless’ not to thoroughly research his background
Noam Chomsky and his wife, Valeria, made a “grave mistake” and were “careless” not to thoroughly research the background of Jeffrey Epstein, Valeria Chomsky said in a lengthy statement on Saturday, adding also that Epstein had deceived them.
The relationship between Noam Chomsky, the 97-year-old linguist and philosopher, and Epstein has been under scrutiny after documents released by the justice department shed light on their friendship. As Epstein came under scrutiny for sex trafficking allegations in 2019, he asked Chomsky for advice on how to respond. “I’ve watched the horrible way you are being treated in the press and public. It’s painful to say, but I think the best way to proceed is to ignore it,” Chomsky wrote in a message signed “Noam” that Epstein shared in email with an associate.
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Some of Noam Chomsky’s communications with Epstein took place after the Miami Herald published a bombshell story in 2018 detailing how Epstein preyed on underage girls and received an unusually lenient plea deal in 2008. On Saturday, Valeria Chomsky acknowledged the couple had read that story, but said the couple wasn’t aware of the extent of Epstein’s crimes until after his second arrest in July 2019.
“We were careless in not thoroughly researching his background. This was a grave mistake, and for that lapse in judgment, I apologize on behalf of both of us. Noam shared with me, before his stroke, that he felt the same way,” she said (Chomsky suffered a massive stroke in 2023). “It was deeply disturbing for both of us to realize we had engaged with someone who presented as a helpful friend but led a hidden life of criminal, inhumane, and perverted acts.”
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“Epstein had claimed to Noam that he [Epstein] was being unfairly persecuted, and Noam spoke from his own experience in political controversies with the media. Epstein created a manipulative narrative about his case, which Noam, in good faith, believed in,” she said in her statement. “It is now clear that it was all orchestrated, having as, at least, one of Epstein’s intentions to try to have someone like Noam repairing Epstein’s reputation by association.
“Noam’s criticism was never directed at the women’s movement; on the contrary, he has always supported gender equity and women’s rights. What happened was that Epstein took advantage of Noam’s public criticism towards what came to be known as ‘cancelling culture’ to present himself as a victim of it,” she added.
Why are you misrepresenting what I wrote?
Just as a practical matter, demanding any kind of apology or explanation from a guy who physically cannot communicate seems like a big ask. In this case ‘quality of apology’ is a foolish metric. It would be nice if Chomsky could explain himself, but he can’t.
I never asked for him to explain himself, you’re the only one insinuating that he would repair any damage the words he’s already said have caused.
If you look at his actions before he had a stroke, it sure looked like he was actively helping and knew who epstein was. Plenty of people try to pretend that they knew nothing all along. I have no doubt that if chomksy could still talk and had full function he would absolutely lie and try to talk his way out of it.
I’m not entirely convinced that you know what words mean, but…
This is part of the comment I replied to:
To which I said that he’s not capable of making an apology so holding him to that standard is weird. Really, it’s weird and ableist. People should stop doing it.