The report came as the 95-year-old’s wife, Valeria Wasserman, dismissed media reports that Chomsky had died, saying in an email to AFP: “It’s false. He is well.”
The newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo reported that Chomsky was recently taken to a hospital in the city after a stroke a year ago left him with difficulty to speak and move the right side of his body.
The couple have a home in Sao Paulo.
Chomsky first became known in the 1950s with the revolutionary theory that the ability to form structured language was innate.
He became an outspoken activist on an array of issues from US intervention in Vietnam to labor rights and the environment.
Earlier Tuesday, Chomsky was trending on X as false reports of his death abounded. 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. Noam Chomsky, known to millions for his criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, taught for decades at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.