Mon 10 Apr 2023:
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has apologised after a viral video on social media showed him asking a 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.
“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 published on Monday on the exiled 87-year-old leader’s Twitter account, which has 19 million followers.
You didn’t just hug the boy though, you asked him to ‘suck your tongue.’
Why leave that bit out? 🤔pic.twitter.com/Nz2aSYxAZD
— Samirah (@SameeraKhan) April 10, 2023
“His Holiness wishes to apologise to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused.”
Moreover, the post said, the Dalai Lama often teases people he meets “in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras”.
— Dalai Lama (@DalaiLama) April 10, 2023
The incident took place during an interaction on February 28 at an event in McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dharamshala. According to The Guardian, around 100 school students were present at the event, which was organised at a temple.
One of the students present there asked the Dalai Lama on microphone if he can hug him. The 87-year-old asked the boy to come up to the platform where he was seated.
The monk then planted a kiss on the boy’s lips as he leaned in to pay his respects. He then stuck his tongue out, while placing his forehead against the boy’s, and asked the child to suck it. The boy moved away while the Dalai Lama laughed and pulled the boy in for another hug, said the outlet.
The video was recorded by one of the attendees and amassed more than 1 million views. Twitter users slammed the footage, calling it “disgusting” and “absolutely sick”.
“Utterly shocked to see this display by the #DalaiLama. In the past too, he’s had to apologise for his sexist comments. But saying – Now suck my tongue to a small boy is disgusting,” tweeted one users.
“What did I just see? What that child must be feeling? Disgusting,” said another.
Dalai Lama and other controversies
In 2019, the Dalai Lama apologised for saying that if his successor were to be a woman, she would have to be “attractive”. The comments, which were criticised around the world, were made in an interview with the BBC.
In the same year, he also triggered a controversy after saying “Europe belongs to the Europeans” on the issue of immigrants. The spiritual leader made the remarks at a conference in Malmo, Sweden, and said refugees should return to their native countries.
In 2018, he said that Mahatma Gandhi wanted to give the prime ministership to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, but Jawaharlal Nehru refused as he was “self-centred”. He added that India and Pakistan would have remained united had Mahatma Gandhi’s come true. The Tibetan spiritual leader later apologised for his remark.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet, is regarded by Beijing as a “dangerous separatist”.
The Dalai Lama has made the Himalayan town of Dharamshala his headquarters since fleeing from Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. India considers Tibet to be part of China, though it hosts Tibetan exiles.
The Noble Peace Prize winner has worked for decades to draw global support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his remote, mountainous homeland.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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