Overview
- In a Feb. 14 lightning round on Brian Tyler Cohen’s podcast, Barack Obama said “They’re real,” added he hadn’t seen aliens, and rejected claims they are kept at Area 51.
- In a Feb. 16 Instagram post, he clarified he was speaking to odds in a vast universe and said he saw no evidence during his presidency of extraterrestrials making contact.
- The exchange went viral and energized online conspiracy communities that cast the comments as coded hints despite Obama’s explicit denial.
- Coverage recontextualized Area 51 as a classified Air Force test site whose existence the CIA formally acknowledged in 2013, not an alien repository.
- Reporters noted that a 2023 NASA UAP study found insufficient high-quality data for firm conclusions, even as polling shows a majority of Americans believe extraterrestrial life exists.