Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has stepped in to defend Barack Obama's viral 'aliens are real' remark, saying the former president's response was a 'scientifically literate' way of discussing extraterrestrial life. Tyson said Obama was simply reflecting the view held by many scientists, rather than hinting at secret files or hidden crash sites.
Obama's comments came during a rapid-fire round on the No Lie podcast, hosted by independent journalist Brian Tyler Cohen. When asked outright whether aliens are real, the former president replied: 'They're real, but I haven't seen them.' He added that they were not being kept in Area 51 and that there was no underground facility hiding them, 'unless there's this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States'. The clip quickly went viral and was soon framed by some viewers as a veiled admission of government contact with alien life.
