Dalai Lama Apologizes After Video Shows Him Kissing A Boy & Asking Him To 'Suck His Tongue'
The video has caused outrage online.
The Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya, India.
The Dalai Lama is apologizing after a video emerged showing him kissing a child and asking the boy to "suck his tongue" at an event in northern India.
In an online statement, the Tibetan spiritual leader said he "regrets the incident" after the video caused a lot of criticism online.
In the video, the Dalai Lama can be seen kissing a young boy, followed by the audience's laughter.
The 87-year-old spiritual leader then looks back at the boy and says "suck my tongue," before sticking his tongue out.
Many people on Twitter have shared the video, and one person who tweeted it out called the incident an "alarming scene."
On Sunday night, the Dalai Lama issued an apology on his Twitter account.
In it, he wrote that he "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. He regrets the incident," the statement reads.
According to BBC News, the incident happened at the Dalai Lama's temple in Dharamshala on February 28.
The Tibetan spiritual leader was meeting with 120 students who had finished a skills training program organized by the philanthropic group M3M Foundation.
The video clip of the Dalai Lama's interaction with the child continued to be heavily criticized by many people online on Monday.
One person called the incident "child sexual abuse" and claimed the "child was in distress but nothing will be done about it."
Another person tweeted "wtf" to the Dalai Lama kissing a "minor boy on his lips."
Other Twitter users called out the spiritual leader for his apology and for the parts he left out.
This isn't the first time the Dalai Lama's behaviour has caused backlash.
In 2019, the leader's office apologized after the Dalai Lama said any future female Dalai Lama should be "attractive" during an interview with the BBC.
CNN reports the current Dalai Lama, whose name is Tenzin Gyatso, has been based in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959 following an unsuccessful Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation forces.