Spiritual Leader Dalai Lama Apologizes After Asking Boy to ‘Suck’ His Tongue

The office of the Dalai Lama has taken to Twitter to issue an apology to a boy and his family after many netizens drew attention to a controversial video in which the spiritual leader is seen asking the young boy to “suck my tongue” at a public event.

Rabat – The office of the Dalai Lama has taken to Twitter to issue an apology to a boy and his family after many netizens drew attention to a controversial video in which the spiritual leader is seen asking the young boy to “suck my tongue” at a public event.

“His Holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his daily life, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused,” the statement said.

While the Dalai Lama “often teases people” he meets in an “innocent and playful way even in public and before cameras,” added the statement, stressing that the Tibetan spiritual leader deeply regrets the incident.

The statement comes as the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, whose Twitter page is followed by 19 million people, was recently at the center of controversy after footage emerged of him appearing to make what many netizens have described as suggestive demands of the boy while addressing a group of students in a temple in northern India in February this year.

The video, which has been seen over 1 million times on Twitter, sparked outrage as it shows the spiritual leader giving the boy a kiss on his lips and asking him to “suck my tongue.”

Many have characterized the 87-year-old Dalai Lama’s behavior as an act of “pedophilia.”

“Dalai Lama calls up a minor boy, kisses him on lips, asks for a tongue kiss as well. Also, notice where he takes the boy’s hand. This is disgusting and appears to be a case of child molestation,” a Twitter user said.

Many other Twitter users have called for the arrest of the Dalai Lama for sexually abusing the child.

“What am I seeing? Is the Dalai Lama? Needs to be arrested for pedophilia. Disgusting,” another commenter said on Twitter.

The spiritual leader is currently living in exile in the northern Indian city of Dharamsala, where he established a shadow Tibetan government in the aftermath of a failed nationalist uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet in 1959. Beijing considers the Dalai Lama as a “dangerous separatist,” according to Reuters.

In 1989, the Nobel Committee awarded the Dalai Lama the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to “advocate peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect in order to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of his people.”