EDIT: Welcome to everyone dropping in from www.unofficialdarrenhayes.com Also, someone has dugg this story, so please head on by and vote for it.

An article in today’s Sunday Mail, owned by Mr Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd, attacked former Savage Garden singer Darren Hayes for saying that Brisbane is ’self-consciously butch’.

Unfortunately for Ms Lucy Carne, the author of the article, Mr Hayes never actually said that. Mr Hayes released an ‘open letter’ to the Sunday Mail on his myspace page, which begins:

In response to the article in your news paper that suggests I ‘dissed’ the town I grew up in I have to say I’m appalled. The story is completely false and you didn’t even get my Father’s name right. You just printed a lie.

The opinions you expressed as mine are not even my words. They have been lifted from press release written by a U.K journalist.

For the record, Peter is my brother. Not my father. So much for getting basic facts straight.

Hat Tip: Livejournal user tuberuse in the brisneyland LJ community

However, the damage has been done. The article in the Sunday Mail has many comments hostile to Mr Hayes.

Another News Ltd employee, Brett Debritz, has altered a story on his Sunday Mail blog, apparently after having the Hayes letter brought to his attention by tuberuse . There is no acknowledgement of the fact that the original story was incorrect - it has just disappeared down the ‘memory hole’.

The story now has two unrelated YouTube clips, but the URL of the story still contains the words ‘get_real_darren’.

Mr Debritz also submitted his own story to Digg. He also entitled the Digg submission ‘Get Real Darren’.

Just another reason to take Brisbane’s monopoly media company with a pinch of salt.