The Dalai Lama, the Tibetans’ 87-year-old spiritual leader, issued an apology Monday morning after video surfaced of 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.”
“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,” said a statement on the exiled leader’s Twitter account, which has 19 million followers. “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.”
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
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.
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The Dalai Lama faced intense backlash online over the incident and the apology.
“Missing some context here @DalaiLama,” journalist Yashar Ali tweeted alongside a screenshot of a New York Times tweet that stated in part: “The Dalai Lama has apologized after a video surfaced showing him kissing a boy on the lips at a public event this year and then saying to the child, ‘Suck my tongue.'”
Missing some context here @DalaiLama https://t.co/wCjdmY8eT3 pic.twitter.com/JS1mxQlkIT
— Yashar Ali 🐘 یاشار (@yashar) April 10, 2023
“This sick, disturbing video of the Dalai Lama making a child suck his tongue emerged months ago, but it has only just now made waves on social media—prompting the ‘holy’ man to issue an apology,” writer Ian Miles Cheong wrote on Twitter. “Why wasn’t it a problem for him before it went viral?”
“That’s not very holy!” declared Professor Gad Saad.