Former President Barack Obama speaks at the Obama Foundation Democracy Forum, Dec. 5, 2024, in Chicago. Credit — Erin Hooley—Associated Press
Former President Barack Obama said in an interview published Saturday that aliens are “real,” but added that he hadn’t seen them.
Asked by progressive podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen about the existence of extraterrestrial life, the former president responded: “They’re real.”
“But I haven’t seen them. They’re not being kept at 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 interviewer did not ask a follow-up question on the topic.
The brevity of Obama’s comment sparked a frenzy of speculation online, prompting the former president to issue a clarification on Instagram 24 hours later.
«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 former president also spoke out about the recent deployment of thousands of immigration agents to Minnesota, condemning what he described as “rogue behavior” of the federal government during the months-long enforcement surge.