Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder calls Mitt Romney's comments 'very upsetting' as he performs at Obama fundraiser

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder was personally offended by Mitt Romney's suggestion that 47% of Americans  "are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it," as was aired in a leaked video that damaged Romney's campaign.

"I'm an example of someone who never made it to university," Vedder said at a fundraising dinner for Barack Obama in Tampa this week. "I did have this dream to be a musician. I felt that this dream had an expiration date." He explained to the dinner guests -- who paid $20,000 per plate -- that he'd experienced his fair share of hardship and hard labor, having worked at a petroleum company before hitting it big.

"It was that job which allowed me to keep affording to guitars and microphones," he said, according to THR. "For me, it all began with that ability to get the proper training for a decent job....It's very upsetting to hear a presidential candidate be so easily dismissive of such a ginormous amount of the population."

Obama thanked Vedder for his personal story and explained that he will continue to fight for that 47%. "I don't want their dreams constricted," Obama said. "And I also don't want our kids to think that somehow success is reserved for them and that somehow half the country is locked out of that success. I want everybody to be successful. Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, able or disabled and I want everybody to have a chance to success. That's what we're fighting for in this election."