Michael Bay never meant to say the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were aliens when he said they were aliens

After it was reported that Michael Bay’s reboot of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles would adopt a more grounded, logical approach to kung-fu-fighting turtles by making them aliens, the Internet erupted—an explosion that Michael Bay only let get bigger and bigger, as is his instinct. However, he’s now extinguishing at least one firestorm in his life by declaring those earlier reports wrong: “There was that quote saying that we’re making [the Ninja Turtles as] aliens. We’re not,” Bay said to Moviefone recently, referencing “that quote” where Michael Bay was filmed saying, “These turtles are from an alien race” on video, and then the many quotes after where he told everyone to calm down and shut up about it.

Instead, Bay now says, “It’s the ooze! It’s from the original source material. These are from the original writers, and I never went out to correct myself in the press.” Indeed, since last year Bay seems to have either read the actual Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles source material—or, at least, the title—or he was forced to make some serious revisions during that studio-ordered work stoppage. “I do listen to the fans and I do want this to be authentic,” Bay said of his response to those criticisms, despite his avowing years ago, “I don’t change my style for anybody. Pussies do that.” Still, in light of this and his other recent clarification that he never actually meant to apologize for Armageddon when he apologized for Armageddon, presumably by “pussies” Michael Bay meant “cool cats.”