Noam Chomsky isn’t dead, but the internet thinks he is

Noam Chomsky, the famous American linguist, activist and intellectual, is not dead, even if the internet thinks he is. This is the story of a mistake that could have been avoided.

Last week, Noam’s wife Valeria Chomsky had revealed in an email that the American intellectual was in poor health and was hospitalised in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he has been living since 2015. According to the email, Noam is recovering from a stroke. He suffered it in June 2023. That was all the ammunition needed for the unconfirmed news of his death to explode.

Noam Chomsky is 95 years old and has been away from public events since 2023. Little was known about him until Valeria spoke more about his hospitalization.

Today, JacobinA left-wing American magazine published an obituary and a tweet. The headline reads, “Let us remember the intellectual and moral giant Noam Chomsky.” Throughout the text, which is written as a tribute to him, the past tense prevails. “Chomsky was”, “Chomsky was”, etc. The source or confirmation of the presumed death is never mentioned. More media outlets picked up this view without any concrete data, and now “Noam Chomsky” is trending topics

More stories in X abound on the “Who was Noam Chomsky?” websites.

However, Cau Signor Ameny, a journalist and editor of the Brazilian edition of the same magazine, tweeted: “Chomsky didn’t die, I just spoke to his wife Valeria.”

Ponte Jornalismo journalist Amaury Gonzo also reported on X that this information is false and published an alleged screenshot of Cau showing a conversation with Valeria. “Wait, Chomsky didn’t die.”