LOS ANGELES (MCT) — Mitt Romney disavowed his much-criticized statement that the 47 percent of Americans who supported President Barack Obama paid no income taxes, considered themselves victims and refused to take responsibility for their lives, saying Thursday night that he had been “completely wrong.”

“Clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and question and answer sessions, now and then you say something (that) doesn’t come out right,” the Republican presidential nominee told Fox News. “In this case, I said something that’s just completely wrong.”