Noam Chomsky's wife denies reports that the leftist icon has died

New York: Noam Chomsky’s wife, Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, says reports on Tuesday (Brazil time) that the famed linguist and activist had died are untrue.

“No, it is false,” she wrote on Tuesday in response to an emailed query from The Associated Press.

Chomsky, 95, had been hospitalised in Brazil while recovering from a stroke suffered a year ago, Valeria Chomsky told the AP last week.

But the Beneficencia Portuguesa hospital in Sao Paulo said in a statement that Chomsky was discharged on Tuesday to continue his treatment at home.

Chomsky, known to millions for his criticisms of US foreign policy, has supported many “anti-imperialist” causes and taught for decades at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2014 he paid a visit to Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Earlier Tuesday, Chomsky was trending on X as false reports of his death abounded. The leftwing publications Jacobin and The New Statesman published obituaries for Chomsky, though the former changed its headline from “We Remember Noam Chomsky” to “Let’s Celebrate Noam Chomsky.”

The New Statesman took its essay by former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis down altogether. Brazilian news site Diario do Centro do Mundo also took down its story announcing Chomsky’s death and issued a correction.

The Chomskys have had a residence in Brazil since 2015.

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