Dalai Lama Issues Apology for Kissing Young Boy on the Lips and Telling Him ‘Suck My Tongue’
After a disturbing video emerged online, religious leader the Dalai Lama has issued an apology. This Dalai Lama has been
CELEB Magazine
After a disturbing video emerged online, religious leader the Dalai Lama has issued an apology.
This Dalai Lama has been the spiritual leader of the Buddhist religion for around 60 years and his time as a figurehead has not been controversy free. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is perhaps the best known of his 13 predecessors.
This week’s incident was a shocking display of public behavior, and he has since apologized.
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Dalai Lama Kisses Boy on Mouth and Tells him ‘Suck My Tongue’
The Dalai Lama has apologized after a video emerged showing the spiritual leader kissing a child on the lips and then asking him to “suck my tongue” at an event. https://t.co/9PrrUzvl17 pic.twitter.com/sjI31w1O14
— CNN (@CNN) April 10, 2023
The incident occurred during an event in the hillside city of Dharamshala in February, and the video recently emerged online and went viral.
In the video, an unidentified boy approaches the 87-year-old spiritual leader and asks, “can I hug you?”
CNN reports, “The 87-year-old spiritual leader then invites the boy on stage and points to his cheek and says, ‘first here,’ prompting the boy to give him a hug and a kiss.
The Dalai Lama then points to his lips, and says: ‘then I think finally here also.’ He then pulls the boy’s chin and kisses him on the mouth.
‘And suck my tongue,’ he says after a few seconds, poking his tongue out.”
At the time it seems that it did not stir any outcry, since the incident is just now making the rounds online.
Dalai Lama’s Office Issues an Apology
— Dalai Lama (@DalaiLama) April 10, 2023
The incident prompted a rare statement from the office of the Dalai Lama issuing an apology.
The statement reads, “A video clip has been circulating that shows a recent meeting when a young boy asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama if he could give him a hug. 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.”
The statement continues, “His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident.”
But the apology seems to be ringing hollow across the internet, as people are disturbed by the video and implication that the leader was “teasing” in an innocent and “playful way.”
CNN explains that his controversy is not new – although this is the first time it has centered on a child; “The spiritual leader has been based in India since 1959, following an unsuccessful Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation forces. He later established a government-in-exile in the northern Indian city of Dharamshala, leading thousands of Tibetans who followed him there.
February’s incident isn’t the first time the octogenarian has sparked controversy in recent years.
He apologized after a 2019 interview with the BBC, during which he said if a female Dalai Lama should succeed him, she ‘should be more attractive.’
The previous year, he suggested Europe should be kept for Europeans, when speaking about the rising level of African refugees entering the continent.
‘The whole Europe (will) eventually become Muslim country? Impossible. Or African country? Also impossible,’ he said, adding that it’s better to ‘keep Europe for Europeans.’”
Online, people are calling for the Dalai Lama to be held accountable – although it’s unclear who would hold him accountable. Prominent Delhi-based child rights group, Haq: Center for Child Rights, released a statement to CNN saying they condemn “all form of child abuse.”