<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Former </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="" title="US"><span>US</span></a><span> President </span><a href="http://9news.com.au/barack-obama" rel="" target="" title="Barack Obama"><span>Barack Obama</span></a><span> says he has seen no evidence that aliens have made contact with Earth, clarifying his position on extraterrestrials after comments he made in a podcast went viral.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Obama found himself in the spotlight over the weekend after he appeared to confirm the existence of aliens in an interview he did with US podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Towards the end of the interview, which dealt with a range of heavyweight issues such as the killing of protesters at the hands of immigration enforcement agents in Minnesota, Cohen posed a series of questions in a "lightning round", starting with: "Are aliens real?"</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/gus-lamont-update-police-return-to-oak-park-station-in-search-for-missing-boy/7d48bf8c-b1ca-4050-ab06-1cf99fc3abd1"><strong><span>Cops searching for Gus charge grandparent with unrelated offences</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"They're real but I haven't seen them," replied Obama. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"And they're not being kept in, what is it? Area 51. There's no underground centre unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The second question in that round was "what was the first question that you wanted answered when you became president?"</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/barack-obama-update-former-us-president-clarifies-alien-comments-after-telling-brian-tyler-cohen-podcast-theyre-real/3d1eb7d2-dcfc-4554-a8af-fe35f9889d3f" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Obama replied, laughing: "Where are the aliens?" </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The interviewer did not delve into the response, instead going straight onto the next question.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Obama's answer was picked up by international media, as well as people on social media. On Sunday evening, Obama issued a statement to clarify his position.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He posted the clip of his original comments on Instagram, accompanied by a short statement.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/accc-court-updates-coles-accused-of-utterly-misleading-grocery-prices/70a3d08c-7dec-40ad-ae10-b31e00875991"><strong><span>The 296 days Coles has been asked to explain</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/which-states-will-miss-out-on-an-anzac-day-public-holiday/0b9ee205-3d51-466f-ab82-d2faca32f65c" rel="" target="" title=""><strong><span>Millions miss out on extra day off: public holiday divides</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"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 said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"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!"</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It's not the first time that Obama has spoken out on the issue. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"What is true, and I'm actually being serious here, is that there are, there's footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don't know exactly what they are," he said, In an appearance on T</span><em><span>he Late Late Show with James Corden.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We can't explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. And so, you know, I think that people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Conspiracy theories involving extraterrestrial life have long abounded about Area 51, a highly classified United States Air Force centre located at Groom Lake in southern Nevada.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One popular UFO conspiracy is that in 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, remains from a flying saucer that supposedly crashed were taken to Area 51 for reverse engineering experiments in order to replicate the extraterrestrial spacecraft.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In June 2019, a poll conducted by YouGov found that 54 per cent of US adults think it is likely the government knows more than it's telling about UFOs.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><em><span>NEVER MISS A STORY:</span></em></strong><span> </span><em><span>Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.</span></em></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><ul><li><strong><em><span>Download the 9NEWS App here via</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://apps.apple.com/au/app/9news/id1010533727" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Apple</span></em></strong></a><span> </span><strong><em><span>and</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nineNewsAlerts.nine.com&amp;hl=en_AU&amp;pli=1" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>Google Play</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Make 9News your preferred source on Google by</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://9.nine.com.au/8x987w" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>ticking this box here</span></em></strong></a></li><li><strong><em><span>Sign up to</span></em></strong><span> </span><a href="https://login.nine.com.au/edm?client_id=nineatnine" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>our breaking newsletter here</span></em></strong></a></li></ul></div></div>