Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has backed former President Barack Obama after he suggested extraterrestrial life exists.
In a February interview with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, President Obama was asked, in a quick-fire round of questions, whether aliens are real.
“They’re real but I haven’t seen them,” he replied, adding: “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.”
Area 51, a highly secretive U.S. Air Force facility in the Nevada desert, has for decades been at the center of speculation that the government is hiding evidence of extraterrestrial life, including alleged alien technology and recovered beings.
In an interview published this week with Cohen, Tyson appeared to side with the former president, saying the existence of life elsewhere in the universe is “a near certainty” based on scientific understanding of the universe’s age and scale.
“To suggest that we are alone in the universe, you’d only be thinking that for some philosophical or religious reason, not for any reason based in science. So my answer is yes. There’s life,” he added. “It’s highly likely there’s life out there in the universe.”
Tyson also defended Obama’s comments, saying the former president gave a “scientifically literate reply” by acknowledging the likelihood of extraterrestrial life while noting there is no direct evidence.
“He’s scientifically literate, and he gave the scientifically literate reply,” Tyson said. “He’s citing what any scientist would tell you about the likelihood of life in the universe.”
Tyson also said people overreacted to Obama’s remarks because of his status as president.
“Because he was president, people wanted to read into it on levels that were just off the scale and out of control. And so I was intrigued by that reaction. Because as an educator, I like knowing that I can anticipate how people will respond to certain information, and if I ever get it wrong, it’s like, how did I misthink their motives or their brain wiring in this?” he said.
Obama’s comments sparked widespread speculation online, with social media users debating whether the former president had hinted at undisclosed government knowledge about extraterrestrial life.
Meanwhile, President Trump accused Obama of giving away classified information.
“Well he gave classified information, he’s not supposed to be doing that,” he said, while refusing to say if he thought aliens were real.
“I don’t know if they’re real or not,” Trump said.
In a later Truth Social post, Trump claimed that “tremendous interest” in aliens had led him to assign Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to identify and release files “related to alien and extraterrestrial life.”
The intense speculation led Obama to clarify his comments later.
“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify,” he wrote in a caption alongside a video clip from the podcast.
“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!”
Obama has addressed the topic of aliens and UFOs a couple of times since leaving office.
During a 2021 appearance with late-night host James Corden, Obama joked that after entering the White House he asked whether the government had a secret facility storing alien bodies or spacecraft.
“They did a little bit of research and the answer was no,” he said.
