Barack Obama addressed the topic of extraterrestrial life during a recent interview. While responding to a rapid question, the former president gave an answer that acknowledged their existence but included an important clarification.
Barack Obama responds to most asked aliens question
During a Feb. 14 interview with Barack Obama, Cohen asked, “Are aliens real?” Obama replied, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” and added, “And they’re not being kept in … what is it? Area 51. There’s no underground facility, unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”
Toward the end of the conversation, the question appeared in a lightning round. When asked, “What was the first question you wanted answered when you became president?” Obama responded, “Where are the aliens?”
Obama previously made a similar joke on The Late Late Show with James Corden, saying, “The truth is, that when I came into office, I asked, ‘Is there the lab somewhere where we’re keeping the alien specimens and spaceship?’ ”
On a 2021 episode of The Ezra Klein Show podcast, Obama said, “There would be immediate arguments about, like, well, we need to spend a lot more money on weapons systems to defend ourselves. New religions would pop up. And who knows what kind of arguments we get into. We’re good at manufacturing arguments for each other.”
But, Obama said, “It wouldn’t change my politics at all. Because my entire politics is premised on the fact that we are these tiny organisms on this little speck floating in the middle of space.”
As for Area 51, the U.S. government confirmed the facility, officially named the Nevada Test and Training Range, in 2013 after years of denial. The site is off-limits to civilians and patrolled by armed guards.
Secrecy and restricted access have made Area 51 a focus of conspiracy theories about extraterrestrials and hidden programs. The government has acknowledged the site’s existence for many years.
