Lesser transgressions have landed people in an even bigger pickle. When Sir Tim Hunt, the Nobel Prize winning scientist, said the trouble with having girls in labs was that you fell in love with them and they cried when criticised, he was made to resign. As was Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi when he said there was no longer a problem with gender diversity in advertising. So why was Mr Buffett allowed to get away with it?

Worshipped for too long

It could be that the bar for unacceptable tastelessness in the US has just got a lot higher. By comparison with what other prominent old men have been saying recently, Mr Buffett's joke looks tame. Set against Donald Trump's assertion that "If Ivanka weren't my daughter, perhaps I'd be dating her", it hardly seems creepy at all. Or it could be we forgive the Sage of Omaha because he is 86. He grew up in a different time when sexism had not yet been invented. No doubt the young Buffett and his friends often innocently joked with one another that a "lady's" no meant maybe – without anyone seeing any harm in it.

Yet this excuse will not do. Age is only a defence for oldies in their dotage. When your ancient uncle from the comfort of his Bath chair says something sexist or racist it is perfectly reasonable to let it go, on the grounds that he is out of the swing of it, that little is to be gained from correcting him, and often much to be lost from making him upset.

But it is not like that with Mr Buffett. He is a public figure whose folksy language is often held up as an example. He controls an unconscionable amount of money – his Berkshire Hathaway fund is worth about $450 billion. If he is out of touch with modern ways it matters very much indeed. Either he should get in touch, or he should retire. But I suspect the true reason we forgive Mr Buffett is the most inexcusable of all. It is simply because he is Warren Buffett. I can think of no business leader who has been so worshipped for quite so long, ever, anywhere, with the possible exception of Joseph Rowntree and George Cadbury, both of whom went on being adored into their 80s.

People feel they need Mr Buffett, now more than ever. We are all so invested in his cuddly, homespun persona, and so revere his judgment that when he starts making hideous sexist jokes, there is only one thing for it. To pretend we have not heard.

lucy.kellaway@ft.com Twitter: @lucykellaway