Tibet’s holiest figure was criticized for inappropriate conduct over an interaction with an Indian schoolboy in late February.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama issued an apology on Monday after a widely shared social media video showed him kissing a schoolboy on the lips and asking the child to “suck my tongue.”
“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 through his office. “His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident.”
Footage of the February 28 incident, captured in a broadcast by the Tibet arm of the United States government-backed Voice of America, showed the Dalai Lama interacting with about 100 student graduates of India’s M3M Foundation at his temple in McLeod Ganj, which is in Dharamshala in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
