A CNN panelist this week defended the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans’ 87-year-old spiritual leader, after video emerged showing him kissing a young boy on the mouth earlier this year in northern India.

The incident happened in February in the hillside city of Dharamshala during an event for the M3M Foundation, a philanthropy group started by an Indian real estate company.

After the Dalai Lama kissed the boy, he stuck out his tongue and told the boy to “suck my tongue.”

Rolling Stone columnist Jay Michaelson said that meeting the Dalai Lama was “one of the most powerful experiences” that he has ever had in life and claimed that the Dalai Lama’s actions were not sexual.

“The Dalai Lama is a very playful human being and we may see this in a weird, kind of gross sexualized way, but this is about as sexual as a bowl of plain rice,” he claimed. “There’s nothing sexual or erotic happening in this encounter.”

He claimed that the Dalai Lama was showing an “aura of love and kindness” in the video.

CNN’s Alisyn Camerota pushed back, saying that boy’s body language showed “the boy doesn’t want to do it.”

Haq: Center for Child Rights, a prominent child rights group in the area, told CNN that it condemned “all form of child abuse.”

“Some news refers to Tibetan culture about showing tongue, but this video is certainly not about any cultural expression and even if it is, such cultural expressions are not acceptable,” the organization said.

WATCH:

🤢 This is an alarming scene! The Dalai Lama, who has had ties to NXIVM in the past, caught on camera trying to make advances to an Indian boy.

You can clearly see the boy's body language as he yanks back the first time, then throws his head upward as the Dalai-Lama says "SUCK… pic.twitter.com/CorBr8tiDz

— NATLY DENISE (@NatlyDenise_) April 9, 2023

A statement was posted to the Dalai Lama’s Twitter account, which has 19 million followers, apologizing for the incident.

“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,” the statement said. “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,” the statement continued. “He regrets the incident.”

Missing some context here @DalaiLama https://t.co/wCjdmY8eT3 pic.twitter.com/JS1mxQlkIT

— Yashar Ali 🐘 یاشار (@yashar) April 10, 2023