Barack Obama's Bombshell Claim About Aliens Being 'Real' Backed by Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson defended former President Barack Obama's viral comments about aliens, calling his statement a "scientifically literate reply."

Tyson emphasized that Obama was merely acknowledging the high statistical probability of extraterrestrial life in a vast universe rather than confirming actual contact or government cover-ups.

During a rapid-fire question round on the "No Lie" podcast, hosted by independent journalist Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked 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.”

After the clip went viral, Obama clarified on Instagram that he was playing into the lightning round's quick spirit.

He explicitly stated that he saw no evidence of extraterrestrial contact during his eight years in office, but believes the statistical odds of life elsewhere in the universe are high.

President Donald Trump criticized Obama's response, accusing him of carelessly speaking on potentially classified subjects.

Tyson explained that Obama "is citing what any scientist would tell you about the likelihood of life in the universe,” adding, “He’s scientifically literate, and he gave the scientifically literate reply.”

“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 noted that the public overanalyzed the comment simply because of Obama's status as a former president. People rushed to assume secret government knowledge rather than look at the mathematical reality of space.

“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 previously noted that the universe is vast, making the statistical odds of life out there very high. However, the immense distances between solar systems make actual alien visitation unlikely.

Both Tyson and Obama have noted that a massive government conspiracy regarding aliens would be impossible to keep a secret today.

As Obama later joked on The Late Show, if the military was holding little green men, an installation guard would have already taken a selfie with one to impress his girlfriend.

Tyson similarly pointed out that with billions of high-resolution smartphones worldwide, humans would have crowdsourced proof of an alien invasion by now.