Except he directly said just that.

Generally I agree that often he'll make some flub and a bigger deal is made of it. Like with the 'Miracle Mile' vs. 'Maginficent Mile' thing, he said the wrong thing but that's the least of the problems with that story and a fairly mundane and understandable mistake to make.

This time the statement is exactly as said, though real world consequences for it are similarly low.