Former President Barack Obama has clarified his remarks on extraterrestrial life after a viral podcast clip sparked widespread speculation about alien existence and government secrets.
In an interview released Saturday on Brian Tyler Cohen's "No Lie" podcast, Obama participated in a rapid-fire "lightning round" of questions. When Cohen asked, "Are aliens real?" Obama replied, “They're real, but I haven't seen them, and they're not being kept in—what is it—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 brief exchange, part of a broader discussion on political topics including immigration enforcement, quickly spread across social media and news outlets, with many interpreting the opening phrase as a confirmation of alien reality or hidden knowledge.
Obama addressed the frenzy on Sunday via Instagram, reposting the clip and adding a detailed clarification. "I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it's gotten attention, let me clarify," he 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!"
The statement emphasised probabilistic reasoning about life elsewhere in the cosmos—a view aligned with mainstream scientific consensus on the Drake equation and exoplanet discoveries—while firmly rejecting notions of visitation or cover-ups.
Obama's comments echo his previous public statements on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and UFOs, where he has consistently maintained a humorous yet sceptical tone. In earlier interviews, he joked about enquiring about aliens upon entering the White House and receiving no affirmative answers from aides.
The Area 51 reference ties into long-standing conspiracy theories about the Nevada military base, which the CIA declassified in 2013 as a testing site for aircraft like the U-2 spy plane, but not extraterrestrial activity.
The episode underscores ongoing public fascination with extraterrestrial topics amid recent U.S. government disclosures on UAP sightings, though no official evidence has confirmed alien visitation.