Jewish-American scholar and activist Noam Chomsky at a press conference to support the Gaza-bound flotilla in the port of Gaza City on Oct 20, 2012. Chomsky’s wife, Valeria Wasserman Chomsky says the death report of the famed linguist and activist is untrue. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa).
Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, wife of Noam Chomsky, has refuted reports circulating on Tuesday that the renowned linguist and activist has passed away.
"No, it is false," she responded in an email to The Associated Press. Last week, Valeria Chomsky had informed the AP that her husband, aged 95, had been hospitalized in Brazil due to complications from a stroke he suffered a year ago. However, the Beneficencia Portuguesa hospital in Sao Paulo stated on Tuesday that Chomsky had been discharged to continue his recovery at home.
Earlier in the day, false rumors of Chomsky's death had gained traction on social media platform X. Both Jacobin and The New Statesman had initially published obituaries for Chomsky, with Jacobin later altering its headline from "We Remember Noam Chomsky" to "Let's Celebrate Noam Chomsky." The New Statesman ultimately removed an essay on Chomsky by former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis.
The Chomskys have made Brazil their home since 2015. Noam Chomsky, recognized globally for his critiques of U.S. foreign policy, had a distinguished career teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for many years. In 2017, he also became affiliated with the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
