The former president swore that if the U.S. government knew about — or possessed — aliens, the information would have already leaked.

Stephen Colbert forces Barack Obama to confirm if aliens are real or not: ‘Just come clean’

The former president swore that if the U.S. government knew about — or possessed — aliens, the information would have already leaked.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and NME.

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May 6, 2026 11:11 a.m. ET

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Barack Obama; an alien; Stephen Colbert. Credit:

CBS; Getty; CBS

- Stephen Colbert forced Barack Obama to confirm if aliens are real or not.

- The *Late Show *host urged the former president to "just come clean" about what he knows about extraterrestrial life.

- Obama swore that if the U.S. government was in possession of an alien or alien spaceships, or even *knew* about their existence, that intel would have already leaked.

Stephen Colbert refuses to end his time on *The Late Show *without finding out exactly what Barack Obama knows about aliens.

The late-night host grilled the former president on his knowledge of extraterrestrial life on Tuesday’s episode, more than two months after Obama made headlines for claiming that aliens were real but that he had never encountered one.

When urged by Colbert to "just come clean" about the existence of the little green men, a laughing Obama confessed, "I thought it was so obvious what I meant."

Barack Obama and Stephen Colbert on 'The Late Show'.

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

"Oh, it was obvious what you meant!" a teasing Colbert replied, "and we all got the message!"

Obama then took a moment to set the record straight. "Here's the thing," he said. "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 the government is terrible at keeping secrets."

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He continued, "This idea of conspiracy theories… If there were aliens or alien spaceships or anything under the control of the United States government that we knew about — seen photographs, what have you — 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 her. It would leak!”

Colbert suggested that there would at least be "certain hints" that alien life had touched down on Earth, like "a presidential center would look like a scout ship that's just come down from low orbit and landed in Chicago." The quip was a nod to Obama's presidential center, which is set to open in June.

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While he may not have seen one, and swears that the U.S. isn't hiding one, *E.T.-* or *Paul-*style, Obama still hopes that aliens are real — and he wants to communicate with them. "I'm putting in a plug now," he proclaimed. "First contact: I think I would be a good emissary for the planet."

The politician proceeded to list some of his credentials to boost his chances. "I've got a diverse background, some experience in statecraft and diplomacy. I'm friendly," he said. "So I actually think I could do a pretty good job."

Stepping into the role of a hiring manager for Earth's alien relations, Colbert told Obama that "we will keep that in mind" moving forward in the process.

"Thank you so much," Obama said, before once again reiterating that a U.S. encounter with alien life "hasn't happened yet!"

Obama’s found himself beamed up in alien drama when he first stated his beliefs on the *No Lie* podcast in February. He later clarified his remarks in an Instagram post, noting that "statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there" but that "the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we've been visited by aliens is low."

He continued, "I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"

If the former president would like to see an alien, or at least a photo of one, then he'd just need to go hang out with Blink-182 guitarist Tom Delonge. The rocker, who has been researching aliens for years, famously showed Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor a photo of a dead one at Foo Fighters drummer Ilan Rubin’s wedding in 2020.

Watch Colbert and Obama discuss aliens in the clip above.

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