Obama Backtracks After Claiming Aliens Are "Real" in Viral Podcast Interview

Former President Barack Obama sent the internet into a frenzy over the weekend after declaring aliens are real during a podcast interview , only to backtrack 24 hours later with a lengthy clarification on Instagram.

The controversy started during a lightning round segment on Brian Tyler Cohen's 'No Lie' podcast published Saturday . Cohen asked Obama directly whether aliens exist.

Obama responded without hesitation: "They're 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" .

When Cohen followed up asking what the first question Obama wanted answered upon becoming president, Obama laughed and said "Where are the aliens?" The exchange ended there. Cohen moved straight to the next question without any follow-up.

That brief exchange exploded across social media. The clip racked up millions of views within hours. People dissected every word, searching for hidden meaning.

The Instagram Clarification

By Sunday evening, Obama posted a damage control statement on Instagram. "I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it's gotten attention, let me clarify" , he wrote.

Obama explained his position more carefully this time: "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 clarification suggests Obama's original comment referred to the statistical probability of life existing somewhere in the universe, rather than confirmation of actual alien contact with Earth. A meaningful distinction that the viral clip completely obscured.

Not Obama's First Time Discussing UFOs

This topic isn't new territory for Obama. During a 2021 appearance on 'The Late Late Show with James Corden', Obama said that after taking office, he sought information on aliens and whether they were being studied in a secret lab. He was told the answer was no .

Obama also noted during that interview that "there is footage and records of objects in the skies that we don't know exactly what they are. We can't explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. I think people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is" .

Congressional Interest in UAPs

Obama's remarks align with ongoing congressional scrutiny. Military veterans have described mysterious unidentified aerial phenomena before the House Oversight and Government Reform Task Force. In September 2025, Air Force veteran Dylan Borland testified that a triangular aircraft hovered above him for several minutes at Langley Air Force Base in 2012, displaying characteristics that defied conventional aviation physics .

Congress has convened three times since 2023 to hear testimony from experts and insiders on UFO reports, which have been officially rebranded as unidentified aerial phenomena . The government passed the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act in 2023, and the Department of War created the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office .

The broader context matters here. A 2025 poll found that nearly half of Americans believe the federal government is hiding evidence related to UFOs . When a former president says aliens are "real" without immediate clarification, speculation fills the void instantly.

Trump's Sceptical Stance

Current President Donald Trump has expressed scepticism on the subject. In a July 2024 interview with Logan Paul, he said he could not say he believed in aliens but had met serious people who claimed to have seen strange flying objects . Trump has also mentioned that alien-related questions are among the most common topics people ask him about.

The Cohen interview covered weightier topics beyond extraterrestrials. Obama condemned federal immigration operations in Minneapolis and addressed a controversial video posted by Trump . Those serious discussions got overshadowed by the alien soundbite.

Lesson learned? When you're a former president in a lightning round, even throwaway comments about aliens require immediate footnotes. The internet moves faster than intergalactic travel ever could.