More precisely, why can thermal radiation escape a black hole, but electromagnetic radiation can’t? It’s commonly accepted that nothing can escape from a black hole, even electromagnetic radiation.(Wikipeda). However, apparently Hawking Radiation can. I understand that Hawking Radiation is somehow required to prevent the black hole from having infinite entropy due to the in-falling matter, but I can’t reconcile this with the seemingly absolute statement: “nothing can escape from a black hole.”
I don’t have time to write something up right now, but a couple of people (including yours truly) attempt to tackle that question in this thread.