Contrary to Chomsky’s expressed opinion, Continental Philosophy can be explained in terms comprehensible to a 12-year-old. The idea that it cannot is an empirical claim and we are fortunate to have a falsifyng instance. In this video Douglas Lain explains Zizek’s theory of ideology to his daughter (I am not sure of her age in the video, but it must be close to the age-group intended by Chomsky):

and here he explains Althusser’s concept of the Ideological State Apparatus to her:

In these videos we see that Zizek can be explained in simple terms, and that the theory goes beyond this explanation: Chomsky’s challenge was to demonstrate that Zizek ‘s theories went « beyond the level of something you can explain in five minutes to a twelve-year-old ». The first video lasts 5 minutes, and while the explanation is good, it is clear that Lain is far from finished at the end.

