The alien show thing is a legitimate show needing a legitimate company. The baffling claims of aliens here now or in the past is not.

Leslie something or other, the one who wrote the NYT piece, is a freelance access journalist. The access? Entertainment, not ufology. Though i suppose if i read enough made up crap I'm probably a ufologist. DeLonge and his weirdos are true believers, and... They are true believers trying to make a buck. They feed the NYT leslie whatever media and ufo stories to get clicks, The nyt single handedly creates what appears to be a groundswell of stories popping up about aliens which helps the show.

​​​​​anyway, enjoy.