Dalai Lama apologizes for video showing him kissing boy on the lips
Jack Birle
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The Dalai Lama apologized after a video circulated of him kissing a boy on the lips during an event in February.
The video shows the Tibetan spiritual leader kissing the boy, and then putting his head up against the boy’s head, before asking the boy to stick out his tongue as he sticks out his own.
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The original incident occurred at the Tsuglakhang temple in Dharamsala, India, where the Dalai Lama lives, per the Associated Press. The footage went viral on social media recently, causing the Dalai Lama to release an apology on Monday.
“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 Dalai Lama said in a statement.
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“His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident,” the statement read.
The spiritual leader has resided in India since the failed Tibet uprising in 1959 against the communist Chinese government. Tibet, where the Dalai Lama comes from, holds a contested status in terms of recognition with the Chinese government, which claims it as a part of China.