An author who collaborated on two books with Noam Chomsky has written a letter condemning the acclaimed scholar’s friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, as newly released files shed light on the social relationship between the two men.
Vijay Prashad – a journalist, author and the director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research – wrote that he was “heartsick” over the new correspondence between Chomsky and Epstein.
“When the photos and emails appeared, I was immediately disgusted by Epstein’s paedophilia, and so by Noam’s friendship with him,” he wrote on Tuesday. “There is no defence for this, in my view, no context that can explain this outrage.”
Prashad noted that he has written two books with Chomsky.
In his letter, Prashad explains that he had no idea about the friendship between Epstein and Chomsky while he was working with Chomsky.
Chomsky, 97, has not spoken out about the latest document release. The famed linguist has previously acknowledged knowing Epstein, but claimed their relationship primarily revolved around financial dealings.
When asked by the Harvard Crimson in 2023 if he regretted meeting with Epstein, he responded: “I’ve met [all] sorts of people, including major war criminals. I don’t regret having met any of them.”
Prashad acknowledged the limitations of Chomsky’s age on any sort of new explanation. “Since Noam cannot speak or write and explain his relationship with Epstein, the matter is fraught,” Prashad wrote.
The most recent disclosure of documents builds upon earlier disclosures of close social ties between Chomsky and Epstein. Among the most recently revealed messages was one Chomsky sent Epstein letting him know he was “fantasizing about the Caribbean island”.
There is no indication Chomsky was referring specifically to Epstein’s private Caribbean island where it is known that children were sexually abused.
In late February 2019, Epstein told an associate that he had gotten advice from Chomsky over how to navigate “the horrible way you are being treated in the press and public”.
That was 11 years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to procuring a person under 18 for prostitution – and months before he would reportedly die by suicide while in federal custody awaiting sex-trafficking charges.
“The best way to proceed is to ignore it,” Chomsky wrote, according to text signed under his first name that Epstein sent to a lawyer and publicist. “That’s particularly true now with the hysteria that has developed about abuse of women, which has reached the point that even questioning a charge is a crime worse than murder.”
The recipient of that email, Matthew Hiltzik, wrote back: “I think that is wise.”
Neither Chomsky nor his second wife and spokesperson, Valeria Chomsky, immediately responded to inquiries about the Epstein-related emails in question – including whether they disputed the authenticity of the 2019 advice attributed to Noam.
Chomsky is a professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since October 2023, he has been on unpaid medical leave from his role as a laureate linguistics professor at the University of Arizona, a school spokesperson said on Monday.
Epstein’s case has received intense interest after his former friend Donald Trump promised to release a full list of Epstein clients while successfully running for a second term in the White House in 2024. Trump, however, invited bipartisan political pressure after his administration declared no such list existed.
Congress later passed a bill directing Trump’s justice department to disclose more Epstein files than had previously been released. A tranche of those documents released on Friday contained the additional details about Chomsky’s correspondence with Epstein.
