Tibetan President in exile defends Dalai Lama amid outrage over viral kissing video

The Tibetan administration in exile defended the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama amid outrage over a video in which he can be seen kissing a minor child. On Wednesday, Dr Losang Sangay, the first President of the Central Tibetan Administration, talked about the recent outrage and defended the spiritual leader over the issue. Sangay shared a 10-minute video about the whole ordeal and called Dalai Lama a “Playful and Pure” person. Earlier this month, a video of the spiritual leader surfaced online, in which he can be seen kissing the boy and asking the underage child to suck his tongue. The video which Sangay claimed was from February 2018, resurfaced online and sparked a row among netizens. 

“The incident happened in February 2018, why the news is going viral now?” Sangay asserted in the Wednesday video. “He is one playful person, if a person has a beard he will pull his beard, if he has a moustache, he will play with his moustache,” he added. The Tibetan president in exile gave several anecdotes of the times when the spiritual leader was not politically correct. These instances included Dalai Lama’s interaction with former US President Barack Obama. After the video attracted a lot of criticism online, the office of the spiritual leader shared a statement on Twitter and stated that Dalai Lama regrets his actions. “His Holiness (Dalai Lama) wishes to apologise to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused,” the statement read. 

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— Dalai Lama (@DalaiLama) April 10, 2023

‘Tibetans would say that the boy is lucky’: Sangay

The Tibetan leader highlighted the cultural differences between Tibetan society and Western society. “Tibetans would say, that boy is so lucky, he got a hug from His Holiness and a kiss. But then from Western or other perspectives, I can understand that it was politically incorrect. But then His Holiness office issued a statement, saying sorry to the boy, his family and anyone who was offended, now that’s the end of the story,” Sangay asserted in the video. He then call out American rapper Cardi B who accused the Tibetan spiritual leader of "abusing his power”. “Cardi B says all the people in power abuse their power, I mean come on give me a break,” he asserted. “He never use his personal popularity and influence,” he added. Sangay then went on to urge the mainstream media to direct their attention to the plight of the Tibetan children who are forcefully removed from their homes and send to boarding schools to learn Chinese.