It was a terribly misjudged relationship - though Chomsky was in his late 80s and past it by then - but there is not one iota of evidence that Chomsky "raped kids", and I think that highly implausible. Why make such a childish, unfounded slur?
I agree there is no proof, but merely calling it misjudged is too forgiving. I have had a lot of respect for Chomsky and his moral stance in life, so this relationship to Epstein was gravely disappointing. He tried to justify it a long time ago by saying Epstein was out of prison and had paid his dues, and that it was intellectual curiosity or something like that, and on paper I agree with this, but it was clear Epstein got off easy and in hindsight it should've been clear to the people around him he had never stopped. I don't think Chomsky raped anyone for what it's worth. But it's a big stain on his legacy.
I'm not so sure. I watched plenty of Chomsky videos in my youth and even corresponded with him via email. My distinct impression was of a guileless and trusting man. I am not inclined to define or disqualify Chomsky's entire lifetime of work based on a single misjudged relationship as he was verging on senility. That is something that, since the advent of Twitter, has become quite normal - extrapolating from one mistake to a person's total and eternal character - and it has never sat well with me.
I say stain on his legacy, you say disqualify entire lifetime. That is not the same. I am allowed to be disappointed by someone's actions. It says also something about someone's standing -- I am not disappointed by Trump, since I didn't expect anything.
I haven't seen any allegation that Chomsky raped anyone, let alone kids. But Chomsky was quite close to Epstein and some of their leaked conversations tarnish his reputation quite a bit, irreversibly IMO.
