Friend sets record straight on Seymour Hoffman gay rumours, drug reports
After the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman in early February, the National Enquirer claimed that the "Master" star was having a gay love affair with a New York playwright. The article included an interview with a man who identified himself as David Katz, the playwright in question, who claimed he was the 46-year-old actor's lover and had seen Hoffman use heroin and cocaine before his demise.
But in an interview with the New York Times, the real Katz, a friend of Hoffman's and the one who discovered the actor's body, has revealed that the story is 100 per cent false.
“The issue was never me being outraged at being accused of being gay — we’re theatre guys, who cares?” he told the newspaper. “The issue was lying about the drugs, that I would betray my friend by telling confidences.”
Hoffman was found dead on Feb. 2 in his Greenwich Village apartment with a needle in his arm and at least 50 packets of heroin in his possession.
According to Katz, he has never spoken to the Enquirer nor has he ever seen Hoffman use drugs. Katz's lawyer, Judd Burstein, told the Times that a senior reporter at the Enquirer was "convinced" he was speaking to the right Katz when he wrote the story.
"They believed him. He sounded distraught. They couldn’t believe that someone would be so callous to say, 'I'm the real David Katz,'" Burstein explained, adding that he intends to sue the fake Katz.
Two days after the real Katz filed a suit against the Enquirer, the paper pulled the article and apologized. As part of the settlement, the newspaper and its publisher, American Media Inc., will bankroll the American Playwriting Foundation, which Katz founded earlier this week, and fund its annual $45,000 Relentless Award, named in Hoffman's honor, for an unproduced play.
“It’s enough for the foundation to give out these grants for years to come," Burstein said of the settlement. He filed to dismiss the suit on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Katz shed light on what really happened on the last night of Hoffman's life. The Oscar winner's last text messages were to Katz, inviting him to watch basketball with him.
“The fact that he wanted me to come over for the Knick game meant that he did not want to be doing the drugs, because he never did them in my presence,” Katz said. “He once said to me, ‘Addiction is when you do the thing you really, really most don’t want to be doing.’"
Unfortunately, Katz did not respond until later that night, by which time Hoffman was no longer responding.
