Rumors of Noam Chomsky’s passing spread like wildfire on Tuesday, flooding social media and even appearing in some news outlets. However, these reports are entirely false. Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, Chomsky’s wife, firmly refuted the claims, assuring the Associated Press that the renowned linguist and activist is alive and well.
Chomsky, who turned 95 this year, had been hospitalized in Brazil since last year following a stroke. He recently made headlines after being discharged from the Beneficencia Portuguesa hospital in Sao Paulo and returning home to continue his treatment.
The misinformation surrounding Chomsky’s health began circulating on social media platform X, where the hashtag #NoamChomsky trended. Publications such as Jacobin and The New Statesman even published obituaries, though Jacobin later amended their headline from “We Remember Noam Chomsky” to “Let’s Celebrate Noam Chomsky.” The New Statesman, on the other hand, removed their essay entirely. A Brazilian news site, Diario do Centro do Mundo, also retracted its story about Chomsky’s death and issued a correction.
The Chomskys have maintained a residence in Brazil since 2015. Noam Chomsky, a figure widely recognized for his critiques of US foreign policy, dedicated decades of his life to teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2017, he joined the faculty of the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
