Obama Clarifies Alien Comments After Podcast Interview Buzz
Former President Barack Obama is setting the record straight after comments he made about aliens sparked headlines and social media chatter.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Obama said he had been trying to “stick with the spirit” of his interviewer, political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen, during a wide-ranging podcast released Saturday. During a speed round, Obama told Cohen that aliens are real.
“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify,” the president wrote. “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!”
During the interview, Obama joked that his first question upon taking office was, “where are the aliens?”
“They’re real, but I haven’t seen them, and they’re not being kept in Area 51,” Obama said.
“There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
The remarks drew attention from journalists and social media users alike. The Washington Post ran a piece headlined, “Aliens are ‘real,’ Obama says, as Washington shrugs.” Users on X also weighed in on the former president’s comments.
The question of extraterrestrial life continues to divide scientists. In 2023, NASA released a report examining unidentified flying objects, also known as unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP). A study team said it was unable to reach firm conclusions. According to the report, the lack of reliable accounts has made it difficult to better understand the phenomena or draw solid judgments.
“Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) are one of our planet’s greatest mysteries. Observations of objects in our skies that cannot be identified as balloons, aircraft, or natural known phenomena have been spotted worldwide, yet there are limited high-quality observations,” the team said.
“Despite numerous accounts and visuals, the absence of consistent, detailed, and curated observations means we do not presently have the body of data needed to make definitive, scientific conclusions about UAP,” the group added.
Public opinion, however, appears more settled. Research and analytics firm YouGov reported last year that a majority of Americans believe in extraterrestrial life. A November poll found that 56% of adults — including 61% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans — said they think aliens exist.
