Johannesburg - South African Twitter users have reacted to what some have described as “disturbing” behaviour by renowned cleric the Dalai Lama with a young devotee in a viral video.
The Dalai Lama appears to be behaving “inappropriately” with the boy.
Twitter user @VusiSambo said to him it looked as though the Dalai Lama was soliciting a kiss, and instructing a minor to suck their tongue sounds “very calculated, if not habitual”.
“One wonders how far His Holiness would have gone had this happened in private, away from rolling cameras. Sick, sick, sick, these godly, saintly men,” read the tweet.
An 87-year old man soliciting a kiss, & also instructing a minor to suck their tongue sounds very calculated if not habitual.
One wonders how far His Holiness would have gone had this happened in private, away from rolling cameras. Sick, sick, sick, these godly, saintly men🙄 https://t.co/r6ELsO5JUg pic.twitter.com/50UVcnP12e
While @Tessa_Dooms wrote, “The comfort he felt doing this in public makes me shudder at what he is comfortable with in private.”
@ScrrreamingPink, reacting to the incident, said given the scandal and countless cases of child abuse by Catholic clergy and recent arrests of evangelical pastors, it would appear that the biggest risk factor for paedophilia is a formal role in a religious organisation.
@naicker_pat also pointed a finger at clerical leaders: “I am deeply suspicious of men who profess to be celibate and surrounded by people of the same sex”, added the tweet.
Another scathing tweet came from @priscillaharker, who tweeted, “(They) hide their perversity behind holiness. Disgusting people. Pretty much like the Catholic Priests.”
While @SameeraKhan was responding to a statement on the Dalai Lama’s Twitter page, she said, “You didn’t just hug the boy though, you asked him to ‘suck your tongue’.”
In a response to the video, on the Dalai Lama’s Twitter page, a statement said that the Dalai Lama wished to apologise to the boy and his family, as well as his 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,” read the statement.
The Star