Obama clarifies views on aliens after saying ‘they’re real’ on podcast

Reuters A headshot of Barack Obama against a black backgroundReuters
Obama initially commented on the subject as part of a quickfire round of questions on a podcast
Former US President Barack Obama has clarified that the chances Earth has been visited by aliens is “low” after comments he made about extra-terrestrial species caught attention online.
“They’re real but I haven’t seen them,” he told American podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen during an interview published on Saturday.
“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,” he added.
Obama has since said his comments were made in line with “the spirit of the speed round” of questions, adding that statistically the chances are that life is out there but he saw “no evidence” while president.
ADVERTISEMENT

Obama’s initial comments were made during a quickfire “lightning” round of questions.
“Are aliens real?” Cohen had asked as his first question of the round for the former president.
Obama’s answer was subsequently run in different media outlets and attracted attention online – prompting him to publish a clarifying statement on his official Instagram account on Sunday.
“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify,” he wrote in a caption that accompanied the video clip from the podcast.
“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!”
Obama, who served as president of the United States between 2009 and 2017, has previously made comments about aliens and UFOs – telling late night TV host James Corden in 2021 that on coming into office he asked whether 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 – but also pointed to records and footage of objects in the sky that had not been explained at the time.
US says UFO sightings likely secret military tests
What goes on at Area 51?
Extraterrestrial life

Camera being designed to search for alien life
Where we might find aliens in the next decade
Life on Mars? ‘Leopard-spot’ rocks could be biggest clue yet
MORE FROM THE BBC
USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea and satellite image of the aircraft carrier
US build-up of warships and fighter jets tracked near Iran
BBC Verify has seen US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln near Iran ahead of talks between the two countries

2027 elections: Obi warns against rigging, urges voters to be vigilant

Advertisement

5 mins ago
Nancy Guthrie and Savannah Guthrie appear on NBC’s Today programme
What we know about the abduction of Savannah Guthrie’s mother Nancy
It’s been days since 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie disappeared in the middle of night from her home in Arizona.

6 hrs ago
Nancy Guthrie is on the left and Savannah Guthrie on the right, on the set of NBC’s morning show Today. There are people in the background with ‘Welcome to Sydney’ banners. Nancy is smiling and wearing a purple scarf while her daughter is also smiling, wearing a white suit
‘It’s never too late’: Savannah Guthrie’s new plea for mother’s release as FBI analyses glove
The FBI says it recovered a DNA sample from the glove, which was found in a field a few miles from Guthrie’s home.

6 hrs ago
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures as he speaks during the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, in Jerusalem,
Iran must abandon enriched uranium and not produce more, Netanyahu says
The Israeli PM’s comments come ahead of Iran-US talks in Geneva on Tuesday to discuss a nuclear deal.

14 hrs ago
Pam Bondi gestures with pen in hand as she speaks into a microphone while sitting in a room in Capitol Hill with people in the background during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on “Oversight of the Department of Justice” on 11 February.
Bondi criticised after saying all Epstein files have been released
Lawmakers, including those who wrote the law requiring their publication, argue the release is insufficient.