The Dalai Lama is apologizing after a viral video showed him kissing a young boy on the lips and asking the child to “suck my tongue,” according to Indian media reports.
The video of Dalai Lama — whose real name is Tenzin Gyatso — was taken back in late February at a graduation ceremony that honored several hundred pupils. The celebration was held at the Dalai Lama’s temple in the city of Dharamshala in far northern India. The children had just graduated from a course with the M3M Foundation, per The Guardian, when the unfortunate interaction took place.
In the months-old video that has resurfaced and now gone viral over the past several days, one of the young boys at the event can be seen walking up to a microphone and directing a question at the 87-year-old Dalai Lama:
“May I hug you?”
The Dalai Lama agreed to the request and motioned for the boy to come up to his platform. There, the Buddhist leader motioned to his cheek, and reportedly said “first here” to indicate a kiss. The child kissed him on the cheek as instructed, and hugged the leader as requested.
But the video didn’t end there. After the hug, the Dalai Lama “kept hold of the boy,” per The Guardian, and motioned to his own mouth, where he reportedly said:
“I think here also.”
OMG…
Then, after kissing the young boy directly on the lips, the Dalai Lama closed even further in for one more shocking move. He next told the child:
“And suck my tongue.”
The Dalai Lama then pressed his forehead against the boy’s forehead and stuck out his tongue. The child stuck out his own tongue at the request, too, but pulled away from doing as asked. The religious leader appeared to laugh at the response as he pulled the boy in for another hug in front of the audience.
WTF?!
Per CNN, the Dalai Lama then spoke to the young boy about working for “peace and happiness” in life, and not to follow “human beings who always kill other people.” After a few awkward moments, he released the boy from his grasp and let him leave the stage.
As we reported up top, the incident occurred nearly two full months ago. However, news of the event recently resurfaced across India, and it has since spread around the world. The video first went viral on Twitter over the weekend, with millions of views and thousands of retweets and reactions:
With the uproar stewing all weekend long, the Tibetan leader-in-exile finally acted on the controversy by Sunday.
Late that night, the Dalai Lama took to Twitter to release a statement of apology for “the hurt his words may have caused,” despite his desire to meet with children and others “in an innocent and playful way.”
You can read that full statement (below):
“His holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his family as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused. His holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident.”
Hmmm. Not sure it was the Dalai Lama’s “words” that caused the hurt here. As expected, the replies to the Dalai Lama’s statement of apology are pretty intense:
“What the Dalai Lama did to the boy was disgusting and he should be sacked.”
“Heartbreaking and unacceptable.”
“You forgot the part where you asked the boy to kiss you and suck your tongue. Pedophile behavior. You’re disgusting.”
“Not just your words but the bit where you kiss him on the mouth, grab him by the chin and move your head towards his face with your tongue sticking out”
“The boy asked for a hug so you asked the boy if he wants to ‘suck his tongue.’ And this is your idea of an apology? You think asking a child to suck your tongue is ‘playful’ or ‘innocent’?”
“You didn’t just hug the boy though, you asked him to ‘suck your tongue.’ Why leave that bit out?”
Yikes…
Reactions, Perezcious readers??
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