A quick-fire podcast question about extraterrestrials turned into one of the most talked-about moments of the weekend. Former President Barack Obama told podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen that aliens are real, then spent the next 24 hours explaining what he actually meant. The internet, predictably, had a field day.
- Obama declared during a podcast that aliens are real, then walked back the claim with a clarification on Instagram Sunday night.
- He said the universe is so immense that the odds are good life exists somewhere, but the distances between solar systems make alien visits to Earth unlikely.
- Obama has mentioned asking about aliens when he first took office, including during a 2021 Late Late Show appearance where he said the answer to whether the government was hiding alien specimens was simply “no.”
The Podcast Clip That Went Viral
Obama sat down with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen for an interview released Saturday, and toward the end, Cohen launched into a “lightning round” of questions, starting with the big one: “Are aliens real?” Obama didn’t hesitate, responding that they’re real but that he hasn’t seen them and they’re not being kept in Area 51, adding there’s no underground facility “unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
When Cohen followed up by asking what the first question Obama wanted answered when he became president was, Obama joked: “Where are the aliens?” and the two laughed. It was a lighthearted moment in a rapid-fire format, but social media doesn’t always do nuance well.
Obama’s answer was picked up by international media and people across social platforms. Within hours, the clip had gone global. Conspiracy theorists claimed vindication. Skeptics rolled their eyes. And Obama apparently realized he needed to say a bit more.
Obama Clarifies Aliens Comments on Instagram
On Sunday evening, Obama posted the clip of his original comments on Instagram and wrote that he “was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round” but wanted to set the record straight since the moment had gotten so much attention. Once Obama clarifies aliens comments in full, the picture looks quite different from those viral headlines.
His clarification boiled down to a pretty measured scientific perspective. He pointed out that, statistically, the universe is so unimaginably large that the odds are good there’s life out there somewhere, but the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances Earth has been visited by aliens remain low. He said he saw no evidence during his presidency that extraterrestrials had made contact with us. That’s a far cry from the “Obama confirms aliens!” headlines that lit up social media over the weekend.
This Isn’t the First Time Obama Has Talked About Aliens
If this all feels a little familiar, that’s because it is. Obama said in 2021 that when he started his presidency, he asked whether there was a lab somewhere keeping alien specimens and spaceships, and told Late Late Show host James Corden that “they did a little bit of research, and the answer was no.”
Obama also told Stephen Colbert in 2020 that he “certainly asked about” UFOs while in office, and when pressed for details, said he couldn’t share more, joking that the idea of the government having an alien spaceship used to be the biggest conspiracy around but now “seems so tame.”
Obama has also noted that officials are seriously investigating aircraft that behave in seemingly unexplainable ways, pointing to footage and records of objects in the skies that can’t easily be explained, with trajectories that “did not have an easily explainable pattern.” So while he consistently denies having secret alien knowledge, he’s also been open about the fact that some things in our skies remain a mystery.
A Growing Government Interest in UAPs
Obama’s comments land in a period of real momentum around the UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) conversation in Washington. The UAP Disclosure Act, passed in December 2023 as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, was a response to escalating public and governmental interest in UAPs, fueled by a surge in credible sightings and reports from military and intelligence officials.
Obama’s remarks also coincide with recent testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Task Force, where military veterans described mysterious UAP encounters. An Air Force veteran testified in September 2025 about a triangular aircraft hovering above him at Langley Air Force Base in 2012.
Polling shows Americans are paying attention, too. A 2025 survey by NewsNation and Decision Desk HQ found that 44% of registered voters believe the federal government is concealing evidence about UFOs, with younger Americans and political independents showing the highest levels of distrust. Obama is hardly alone among presidents who have weighed in on UFOs, either. Past presidents including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter all commented on the topic, and both Reagan and Carter claimed they personally spotted UFOs before entering office.
Why a Casual Podcast Answer Still Matters
It’s easy to dismiss this whole episode as a silly viral moment. A former president cracks wise during a speed round, the internet freaks out, and then he has to post a “well, actually” on Instagram. But the reason it hit so hard is that Americans are genuinely curious about what their government knows about unexplained aerial phenomena. When a former commander in chief says aliens are “real,” even in a joking context, people listen.
Obama’s comments reflect a broader scientific conversation. Many astronomers believe that life could exist somewhere across the universe, while experts agree that the enormous distances between solar systems make interstellar travel extremely unlikely. His clarification didn’t shut the door on the possibility of alien life. It put it in perspective. The universe is big, the math says life is probably out there somewhere, and no, nobody brought Obama a spaceship during his eight years in the Oval Office.
For now, the search for answers continues through congressional hearings, military investigations, and the occasional presidential podcast gaffe that breaks the internet for a weekend.
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