Former President Barack Obama issued a clarification about his stance on the existence of extraterrestrial life Sunday, one day after the release of a podcast episode in which he said aliens are real.
In an interview with left-wing podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama replied “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” when asked if aliens existed. The former president took to Instagram soon after to clarify that, while he thinks it’s more likely than not that extraterrestrial life exists, he “saw no evidence” of alien contact during his time in the White House.
“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify,” the 44th president wrote.
“Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” he continued. “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.”
Incredible pic.twitter.com/5TRGxRWbtV
— Adam Wren (@adamwren) February 16, 2026
Should Obama have clarified his comments on extraterrestrial life?
“They’re [Aliens are] real, but I haven’t seen them, and 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,” Obama told Cohen during the podcast’s lightning round.
The podcast host replied by asking the former president, “What was the first question you wanted answered when you became president?” as opposed to a follow-up question to expand upon the seemingly unprecedented admission about aliens.
Obama said in response, “Where are the aliens?”
Cohen, however, again did not ask the former president to explain his stance on extraterrestrials and moved on to his next question, sparking an exchange about the pope.
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