Whatever they say. We also have to see it from the perspective from a normal moviewatcher person who enjoys the movies without being geeks like us. For them they don't know what the studio says or the movie makers. They see the movie and for them it is a normal continuation of a franchise. We see in Predator the alien scull in the trophy room, we got all the games and comics and we got the movies. Whatever Ridley is saying, it depends on the person who is watching the movie and who is deciding on his own what is canon and what is not. And I don't care much what Ridley is talking, because in my eyes he is not the boss over the franchise.
Another thing is that Fox seems to try hard to build a bigger universe with all that extender material. I think Fox gives also a shit what Ridley says.