Rememeber, when someone asks about your relationship with a known pedo-trafficker, the best response is to say “it’s none of your business.” Very reassuring.
EDIT: Source
Rememeber, when someone asks about your relationship with a known pedo-trafficker, the best response is to say “it’s none of your business.” Very reassuring.
EDIT: Source
The most charitable, generous excuse here is that Noam heard rumors about Epstein but never confronted him about it because it would limit his access to...dinners with Woody Allen. This is polite liberal society manifested.
There is a 0% chance he never heard any rumors about Epstein or got weird vibes. Anyone you know well enough to privately fly you from Boston to NYC for dinner with celebrities is someone you can ask about those rumors. "Hey man people are saying this stuff about you, what's up with that?" Maybe actually look into it a bit more, ask questions. You are a renowned intellectual after all.
But nope. Can't do that because he might get offended and not let me talk about Annie Hall over scallops for the 300th time. And that's the option where we assume Noam isn't totally down with what Epstein was doing. The boundaries of your ethics are defined by "I don't want to have an awkward conversation with the monster who bought me a $400 dinner"
The man was 86 at the time and frequently fails to have coherent views of anything in recent decades. I think the most generous and also probable excuse is that he's just senile.
I've met plenty of senile 86 year olds and they don't want to take a plane to see Woody Allen; they want to watch Bonanza reruns with a TV tray full of mashed potatoes and gravy until they fall asleep in their chair.