Hollywood star George Clooney has forced a tabloid magazine to unpublish and apologise for a story he claimed was “completely fabricated” – the latest in the celebrity’s war on shoddy journalism.

On Thursday, Hello! magazine published what it claimed was an exclusive interview with the actor under the headline: ‘George Clooney Reveals Wife Amal Clooney’s Most Attractive Feature’.

A day later, the Oscar winner issued a public statement claiming the interview was fake. The magazine initially stood by the story, saying in a statement it was “dismayed” by the claims, but later retracted it after investigating further. The article has disappeared from Hello!‘s website, but its ‘ghost’ lingers in Google and other search engines.

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“Hello! Group has established that the interview it bought from the Famous agency had, in fact, been culled together from a series of interviews that took place over a period of time, and many of the quotes attributed to Mr Clooney were never made by him,” the magazine posted online.

The magazine company said it had bought the interview “in good faith” from an independent agent and was “shocked and disappointed” to discover the truth.

It is the common practice of celebrity-focussed magazines to purchase interview transcripts from third-party agencies.

“We apologise unreservedly to Mr Clooney and his wife Amal for any distress that publication of this piece may have caused them and further apologise for conveying the impression that he had given an exclusive interview to Hello!” the statement said.

Clooney has not responded to the magazine’s apology. His original statement was scathing.

“Hello! Magazine has printed an ‘exclusive interview’ with me that has been widely picked up and reprinted,” the actor said in a statement on Saturday.

“Outlets like Vanity Fair, Marie Claire, The Sun, and The Evening Standard have all printed my exclusive interview and credited Hello Magazine. The problem is that I have not given an interview to Hello Magazine and the quotes attributed to me are not accurate.

“In my experience, being misquoted is not unusual but to have an ‘exclusive interview’ completely fabricated is something new. And a very disturbing trend.”

While many Hollywood celebrities ignore media reports about their feuds, love lives and scandals, Clooney is often outspoken when he is the alleged victim of inaccurate journalism.

In 2014, the Daily Mail UK published an article citing unnamed sources that claimed Amal Clooney’s mother opposed her marriage to the actor (the pair were engaged at the time).

“Amal’s mother has been telling ‘half of Beirut’ that she’s against the wedding. It says they joke about traditions in the Druze religion that end up with the death of the bride,” the article claimed.

The actor took the extraordinary step of penning an open letter published by USA Today denying the rumour. In the article, Clooney gave a hint as to why he cares so deeply about journalistic errors.

“I’m the son of a newsman; I accept the idea that freedom of speech can be an inconvenience to my private life from time to time,” he wrote.

“The Daily Mail, more than any other organisation that calls itself news, has proved time and time again that facts make no difference in the articles they make up. And when they put my family and my friends in harm’s way, they cross far beyond just a laughable tabloid and into the arena of inciting violence.”

Clooney is also working on a film adaptation of the book Hack Attack, which details the phone hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.