Annual
$45,000 prize for playwrights in honour of Philip Seymour Hoffman will be
funded by magazines which falsely reported that Hoffman had a gay affair with a
friend
An
annual prize will award $45,000 to a playwright in honour of Oscar-winning
American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died this month from a suspected
heroin overdose.
The
prize is being funded by magazine The National Enquirer and its publisher,
American Media Inc, which falsely reported that Hoffman had a gay affair with a
friend.
The
friend, David Katz (who is himself a playwright), came up with the idea after
settling a libel case over the article, his lawyer Judd Bernstein told AFP.
The
newly created American Playwriting Foundation is likely to award the first
prize for an unproduced play this year, he said.
The
New York Times, which broke the story, said the prize would be called the
Relentless Award, in Hoffman's honor.
The libellous article was
published on February 5, three days after Hoffman was found dead in his New
York apartment after failing to meet his girlfriend and their children.
It
claimed to quote Katz as saying he and Hoffman were lovers who took cocaine,
and that Katz saw him using heroin many times.
Katz
denies ever speaking to the magazine and says Hoffman never used drugs in his
presence, The New York Times reported.
The
Enquirer has since withdrawn the article.
It
will also buy a full-page advertisement in Wednesday's edition of The New York
Times to apologise.
"The
money that's being paid by the Enquirer will fund the $45,000-a-year prize for
many years to come," Bernstein told AFP.
"Since
Mr Katz didn't want money we both agreed the answer was to force The Enquirer
to pay money that could be used in a positive way and then the idea of the
actual foundation was Mr Katz's."
Katz
told The New York Times he wanted a meaningful settlement.
"We
had talked so often that it's a tragedy playwrights can't survive being
playwrights - about how nice it would be if you could make your rent and still
have an occasional steak," he said.
Forty-six-year-old
Hoffman was hailed by many as the finest character actor of his generation.
He
won an Oscar in 2006 for his portrayal of author Truman Capote in
"Capote" and earned three further Academy Award nominations as best
supporting actor in 2008, 2009 and 2013.
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