Fortune Wasn't Fired In Hong Kong

J.D. Fortune wants to clear up some of the things he said last month about his split from INXS.

For starters, he now says they didn't fire him at a Hong Kong airport and leave him with only a handshake.

"To set the record straight, I was never given a handshake at an airport and said, 'Thanks a lot,'" Fortune told Sun Media.

"That was sort of a misquote [on my part]. It was the proverbial handshake. Nobody really said, 'Thanks a lot, kid.'

"I thought we were going to see each other again. It was kind of like, 'Hey, hey, I'll catch up with you later.'"

Fortune said he was under the impression there were two more legs of INXS' 2007 tour to complete. But after 10 months of no returned phone calls, Fortune concluded he'd been fired from the band.

Fortune, who won the Rock Star: INXS reality TV show in 2005, told ET Canada last month that INXS had abandoned him at a Hong Kong airport with only a handshake. He also said he was homeless and living out of the back of a pick-up truck.

INXS denied the allegations, and band creative director Chris Murphy said he'd been considering Fortune for an upcoming INXS project but now wouldn't be giving the Canadian singer born Jason Bennison a call. Murphy later said INXS would return to the studio to work on new material without Fortune.

Fortune also clarified his feelings about his former bandmates.

"INXS has always been and will always be my favourite band — always," he told Sun Media.

Since the ET Canada expose, Fortune was offered a bunk at his godparents' place in Mississauga and has been in talks with a record label to release his new album, The Death Of A Motivational Speaker, which was produced by former I Mother Earth guitarist Jag Tanna.

"I thought I wanted to be a great big rock star, but really, I just want to be J.D. Fortune," he said.