Former US President Barack Obama has issued a clarification for his recent remarks about the existence of aliens after his offhand comment — “They’re real but I haven’t seen them” — went viral online.
Speaking on the American podcast No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen over the weekend, Obama had initially appeared to confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life. His response quickly spread across social media, with clips being shared widely and sparking intense speculation.
‘They’re not being kept in Area 51…’
During the interview, when Brian asked, “Are aliens real?” as part of a quickfire round, Obama replied, “They’re real but I haven’t seen them.” He added jokingly, “They’re not being kept in Area 51. There’s no underground facility unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
The humorous exchange was part of a lightning round of rapid-fire questions but many took the former president’s response literally, prompting him to post a clarification on Instagram the following day.
Obama’s clarification
“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify,” Obama wrote on social media, in a caption accompanying the podcast clip. “Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!” he said.
The 44th US president, who served from 2009 to 2017, explained that while he believes life could exist elsewhere in the universe, there’s no proof of alien visitors on Earth.
Obama’s past remarks on UFOs
This isn’t the first time Obama has addressed the topic. Back in 2021, during an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, he revealed that he once asked intelligence officials if “there was a lab where we’re keeping the alien specimens and space ship.”
“They did a little bit of research, and the answer was no,” he said, while also acknowledging that there are “records and footage of objects in the sky that we can’t explain.”
With his latest clarification, Obama appears to be putting the viral debate to rest, though it’s safe to say the internet isn’t done with the question just yet.
