Obama shuts down alien noise: ‘No evidence during my presidency’

Former President Barack Obama said he sees no evidence that aliens have “contacted us,” after he caused a stir on social media by saying aliens are real in a podcast over the weekend.

During a quick round of questions with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked: “Are aliens real?”

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“They’re real,” he replied, “but I haven’t seen them. They’re not being held at Area 51.”

On Sunday, the former president issued a statement on Instagram, apparently clarifying what he meant by his comments that have since gone viral.

“I was trying to stick to the spirit of speed, but since it’s gotten attention, let me get this straight. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds of life being there are good. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances of aliens coming to us are low, and I’ve seen no evidence during my presidency that aliens have contacted us. Really!”

The secrecy surrounding Area 51, a top-secret Cold War testing site in the Nevada desert, has long fueled conspiracy theories among UFO enthusiasts.

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In 2013, the CIA acknowledged the site’s existence, but not UFO crashes, black-eyed aliens, or an organized moon landing.

The declassified documents referred to the 8,000-square-mile (20,700-square-kilometer) facility by name after decades of U.S. government officials refusing to acknowledge it.

The base served as a testing ground for a range of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.