Former President Barack Obama just debunked an extraterrestrial conspiracy theory.
Obama, 64, set the internet alight earlier this year when he seemingly confirmed the existence of alien lifeforms in a podcast interview, saying, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them.” After his comments went viral, the 44th president attempted to clarify that he meant aliens could conceivably exist.
During a wide-ranging interview with Stephen Colbert on the Tuesday, May 5, episode of The Late Show, Obama was once again in the hot seat about all things alien as the talk show host brought up the politician’s earlier comments.
“You tried to walk it back the next day. You know no one believed you, right?” Colbert, 61, joked to Obama.
“I thought it was so obvious what I meant,” Obama responded, going on to shoot down the notion that the U.S. government is secretly in possession of aliens.
“Here’s the thing. For those of you who still think that we’ve got little green men underground somewhere, one of the things you learn as president is [that] government is terrible at keeping secrets,” he said.
Obama added, “If there were aliens, or alien spaceships, or anything under the control of the U.S. government that we knew about, [had] seen, photographs … I promise you some guy guarding the installation would have taken a selfie with one of the aliens and sent it to his girlfriend to impress them. It would leak.”
Colbert then asked the former president if he wishes aliens were real — prompting Obama to share an out-of-this-world new career ambition.
“I actually do,” he responded. “I’m putting in a plug now: First contact, I think I would be a good emissary for the planet. I have the diverse background, some experience in statecraft and diplomacy … I’m friendly. I actually think I could do a pretty good job.”
Obama made headlines in February when he said aliens are “real” during an interview with political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen. He caveated his answer at the time, saying, “I’ve not seen them. 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.”
After his remarks went viral, Obama clarified what he meant in an Instagram post. “I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention, let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,” he shared. “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!”
