Former US president Barack Obama has clarified his recent comments about aliens, stating that he has not seen evidence of extraterrestrial contact. The clarification came after his response during a podcast interview sparked global headlines claiming he said aliens are real.
In a conversation with host Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked "Are aliens real?" during a rapid-fire round. He replied, "They're real but I haven't seen them," adding that they are not kept at Area 51. The remarks fueled conspiracy theories about the secret Nevada air force base.
Obama later released a statement on Instagram, explaining he was trying to match the quick pace of the interview. He said, "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."
The issue of unidentified aerial phenomena has gained traction in recent years, with the Pentagon encouraging reporting of such sightings due to potential national security threats. A government report revealed over 750 new UAP sightings between May 2023 and June 2024, including a video of a Hellfire missile bouncing off a glowing orb off Yemen.
Former presidents have also weighed in: Hillary Clinton vowed to investigate alien conspiracies, and Donald Trump acknowledged meeting people who reported strange sightings. Declassified documents from 2013 linked early UFO reports to testing of US spy planes like the U-2 at Area 51.
