David Bar Katz, denies gay relationship with Philip Seymour Hoffman

The man who found tragic Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman dead on his bathroom floor is taking legal action against a supermarket tabloid magazine in the United States after it accused him of having a gay affair with the actor.

Playwright David Bar Katz, 44, categorically denies that he spoke to the National Enquirer after it attributed a direct quote to him claiming the troubled actor was his lover and that he saw him freebasing cocaine the night before he died in his West Village drugs den.

The interview that ran in Wednesday's edition of the popular magazine alleged that 46-year-old Hoffman's confusion over his sexual identity caused his relationship with the mother of his three children, Mimi O'Donnell, to collapse and fueled his destructive spiral into drug addiction.

However, as he left the home of Mimi O'Donnell today, Katz denied ever making those comments to The National Enquirer.

'I never said that, no,' said David Bar Katz in reference to the quotes the magazine directly attributed to him.

Katz's flat-out denial came after a friend of the screenwriter attacked the National Enquirer report as a 'vulgar and disgusting lie' and that Katz will take legal action.

'This is a categorical, 100% vulgar and disgusting lie,' said the friend, who asked not to identified. 

'Even the National Enquirer should be ashamed. It's just disgusting. There will be legal action.'

'He never spoke to them,' said the friend. 'This is so far off from reality. We're calling lawyers now to threaten them appropriately.'

Katz's denial was followed by a statement in which he vowed to file a lawsuit.

'The Enquirer story is 100% false, including the claim that I gave the Enquirer an interview,' Katz said in the statement.