The Dalai Lama kissed a young Indian boy on the lips and asked him to “suck” his tongue.
The conversation, which took place in March 2023 at an event for India’s M3M Foundation, has since gone viral on social media, prompting the spiritual leader’s office to state to address the situation.
“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,” reads the statement signed by the Dalai Lama.
The boy can be seen approaching the microphone and asking, “Can I hug you?” in the footage.
The boy is then escorted onto the stage after His Holiness responds, “OK, come.”
The 87-year-old then, at that point, move to his cheeks and tells the kid “First here” and the kid gives him an embrace and a kiss. He holds the kid’s arm and goes to him, saying “Then I think fine here additionally”, highlighting his lips.
The audience laughed as the Dalai Lama continued to kiss the boy on the mouth and grab the boy’s chin.
He tells the boy, sticking his tongue out, “And suck my tongue.”
The spiritual leader gives the boy a playful slap on the chest and laughs as they press their foreheads together.
After that, he can be seen giving the youngster spiritual direction, instructing him to “look [to] those good people who create peace and happiness” rather than “not follow those people who always kill other people.”
According to local media, the clip sparked outrage in India, with some describing it as “creepy” and “disgusting.” On the other hand, his supporters maintained that he was simply “joking around.”
Following the sexism outrage, his office had to put out a conciliatory sentiment, making sense of that his “off-the-cuff remarks, which might be amusing in one cultural context, lose their humour in translation when brought into another”.
