Taking Money From EPSTEIN-Media Lab Director Joi Ito Needs to Resign
Dear MIT Media Lab Community,
Like most of you I was appalled to find out that anyone at MIT Media Lab had gotten into bed with and taken money from a known child rapist and registered sex offender who plead guilty to his crimes in 2008, much less to find out it was the Director of MIT Media Lab Joi Ito who decided to take his money.
Reading Joi Ito’s disingenuous apology bristles with memories of the need for the #metoo movement.
People like Jeffrey Epstein thrived due to people like Joi Ito, who knew what Epstein was and took his money anyway.
We all know that Joi Ito knew Jeff Epstein was a child rapist when he took his money, because it is public knowledge that Jeff Epstein was a child rapist, because Epstein plead guilty to his crimes in 2008 in a very public and scandalous trial, followed by additional lawsuits against his pimp and recruiter, Ghislaine Maxwell, also highly publicized.
ALL of these trials centered around one thing: the RAPE of girls.
So, this begs the question, how is it possible someone like me, knows all of this public information, but the head of one of the most prestigious institutions in America, doesn’t?
The answer is obviously because I’m vastly superior in intelligence and factual awareness than Joi Ito.
Or
The answer is, more likely, that Joi Ito knew exactly who Jeff Epstein was, was warned by Ethan Zuckerman not to meet with him, but wanted the money, and took it anyway — without conscience and by destroying whatever moral code he had in order to take it.
Joi Ito took rape money.
That is the long and short of it. Jeffrey Epstein’s life, wealth, politics, businesses, personal affairs, friendships, and business relationships all hinged on the buying, selling, procuring, gifting, obtaining, grooming, trafficking, and the raping and degradation of hundreds and perhaps thousands of young girls.
Anyone who took any money from Epstein, for whatever reason, has taken rape money.
How on earth can anyone claim to be an intelligent person, smart enough to run MIT Media Lab, but not be smart enough to know the difference between right and wrong?
How on earth can you claim to be an intelligent person, smart enough to run MIT Media Lab, but not be smart enough to do a simple search on a man you’re taking money from?
Joi Ito takes money from anyone, as long as the price is high enough — is this the obvious answer? Rapists, murderers, cartel members, serial killers, serial rapists? Where does one draw the line in real life?
Who’s money would be considered blood money, and who’s money would be considered acceptable?
Joi Ito has shown us that according to him, you can be a known rapist, someone who did time in jail for such crimes, and be registered as a sex offender on the Sex Offender Registry and that is 100% fine.
Jeffrey Epstein’s photograph and registration on the Sex Offender Registry occurred in 2013, the same year that Ito decided to take his rape money, after being warned not to meet him by a trusted member of the Media Lab, and Ito did it anyway.
This appalling corruption in judgement should not be allowed to go unanswered by the MIT community.
I call on Joi Ito to resign his position, effective immediately.
Perhaps it is time for a woman to step into Ito’s role, so the “old boys club” finally has a chance to die it’s rightful death with Epstein and his despicable deeds against girls and children.
So that everyone understands who Jeffrey Epstein was, this recent revelation came from trial, and is all over the tabloids now, where it was revealed that Jean-Luc Brunel shipped 12 year old triplets from France to Epstein as a “birthday gift” for him to rape.
“He went on to tell me how Brunel bought them in Paris from their parents, offering them the usual sums of money, visas, and modeling career prospects,” she said, according to the news outlet.
“Laughing the whole way through, Jeffrey thought it was absolutely brilliant how easily money seduced all walks of life, nothing or no one that couldn’t be bought.”
So I ask you, if Joi Ito is the gate keeper, and the intellectual and moral leader of the MIT Media Lab, how on earth can anyone keep a straight face (thank you, Ethan), when he can’t determine that he shouldn’t take money from a KNOWN rapist of children who had already plead guilty well before Ito met him?
Joi Ito can be bought.
Do you want to know how easy it is to see the difference between right and wrong? Simply look at the difference between Ethan Zuckerman’s Apology and Joi Ito’s Apology.
Zuckerman makes Ito look like a coward, which I am inclined to say, he is. Zuckerman takes on more responsibility than he needs to, shouldering more of the responsibility and blame than is warranted. Ito, on the other hand, makes his ‘apology’ an attempt to paint himself as innocent, when he’s clearly not. The difference between these two responses, is staggering.
To Ethan Zuckerman, I applaud you for being a man of principles, character, and moral, humanist values. I wish the world had more men like you in it, The world would be a much better place if more men had your moral core.
To the MIT community, I move that Joi Ito resign immediately and I hope we all will answer the call to stand up for what is right, and to not turn a blind eye to this terrible evil that is perpetrated against women, girls, and children, while the profits from their degradation are enjoyed by men who have no conscience, and shared with men who have no moral core.
For the health, safety, credibility, and reputation of the MIT Media Lab,
Joi Ito needs to resign.
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It was my honor to be a visiting scholar and research affiliate at MIT Media Lab from 2013–2017. I am using my voice for the victims who are always overlooked or silenced in these scandals.
