Obama Backpedals After Backlash Over Bombshell UFO Claim (Video)

Barack Obama is trying to put the brakes on a controversy he started himself after his eyebrow-raising comments about aliens sent social media into a frenzy.

The former president had the internet buzzing back in February when he casually said, “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them,” during a podcast appearance. That line was enough to ignite a storm of speculation, with many Americans wondering whether Obama had just hinted at something far bigger than he intended.

Now, he is attempting to clear the air.

During an appearance on the Tuesday, May 5, episode of The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert confronted Obama over the now-viral remark and joked that no one bought his attempt to walk it back.

“You tried to walk it back the next day,” Colbert told him. “You know no one believed you, right?”

Obama laughed off the moment, but he quickly made clear that he was not claiming the U.S. government has secret knowledge of extraterrestrials or hidden alien spacecraft stashed away in some underground bunker.

According to Obama, one of the biggest lessons he learned in the White House was that Washington is simply not capable of keeping a secret that big for very long.

He told Colbert that if the government really had evidence of aliens or alien ships under its control, somebody would have exposed it by now. In his view, all it would take is one person with a phone and a bad sense of judgment for the truth to spill out.

Obama painted a humorous picture, saying some guard at a secret installation would have snapped a selfie with an alien and sent it to impress a girlfriend. In other words, if it were real and the government had it, the public would probably know by now.

Even as he dismissed the idea of a massive cover-up, Obama admitted he still likes the thought that life may exist somewhere beyond Earth.

When Colbert asked whether he hopes aliens are real, Obama said he actually does. He even joked that he would make a strong pick to represent humanity if first contact ever happens, pointing to his background in diplomacy and public service.

The latest comments come after Obama tried to explain himself on social media following the uproar over his earlier interview. He said he had been answering questions quickly and never meant to suggest that extraterrestrials had visited Earth or that the government was hiding proof.

He later wrote that while the universe is so massive that life elsewhere seems statistically possible, the odds that Earth has actually been visited are low. He also stressed that during his time in office, he saw no evidence that extraterrestrials had made contact with humanity.

That clarification, however, did little to stop the speculation.

For many Americans already skeptical of what they hear from political elites, Obama’s original wording was explosive enough to leave people questioning whether he had accidentally said too much before trying to rein it in. His follow-up may have been meant to calm things down, but it only kept the alien debate alive.

He also pushed back on the long-running mythology surrounding Area 51, the secretive Air Force facility that has fueled conspiracy theories for decades. Obama insisted there is no underground alien facility hidden from the president and rejected the idea that such a massive operation could stay under wraps.

Still, once a former president says aliens are “real,” even with caveats, the damage is done.

What may have started as a lighthearted answer has now become another viral Obama moment, one that critics are sure to seize on as yet another example of a high-profile Democrat making a headline-grabbing statement and then scrambling to explain it away after the backlash hits.

For now, Obama says there are no little green men being hidden by the federal government. But judging by the public reaction, plenty of people are not ready to let the mystery die just yet.