14 DAY TRIAL // Shortly after the tragic and sudden death of American actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, the National Enquirer ran an odd and scandalous piece in which it alleged that one of Phillip's friends, playwright David Bar Katz, not only knew of his addiction to cocaine, but the two were secret gay lovers.
Katz promptly filed a lawsuit against the publication for the total sum of $50 million (€36,435,400), but now it's been revealed that he has reached a settlement in the case for an undisclosed sum over the false claims that he was the actor's gay lover and watched him freebase cocaine.
The Daily News talked about the entire matter with Katz's attorney. According to him, the father of four said that he withdrew his lawsuit against the Enquirer on Tuesday, February 25, and that he would be putting the money from his settlement to good use.
David Bar Katz revealed his plans to set up and finance the American Playwriting Foundation, and also those of arranging for an annual contest to take place within the Foundation to produce a play every year, with the prize of $45,000 (€32,791).
Upon hearing the news for the first time, Katz said he was shocked, “My initial reaction was ‘ludicrous, ’” adding that, “Phil would have gotten a kick out of that.” He claims he first picked up the report from one of his sons.
“I was stunned,” he said. “I always knew that they made stuff up, but I never knew they made up even having an interview with someone that they never had – and then the degree as everyone picks it up.” The magazine wrote in its article that Katz had given it an interview and attributed to him several falsehoods, such as the fact that he had seen Hoffman freebasing cocaine.
When prompted about the sum of money from the settlement, the lawyer, Judd Burstein, said that it was confidential but, “the size of the payment will allow us to give these grants for many years to come,” hinting that it was a considerable sum by any accounts.
Granting them the benefit of the doubt, Katz still believes that the National Enquirer was misled in its report by a man who bore a name similar to his and wondered who would be so evil to commit such a crime.
“To do this to grieving people and put David in this situation where he was not able to go spend time with [Hoffman's] family because he was hounded by all the paparazzi? This thing turned into a nightmare in 15 minutes,” Katz's lawyer added.