Top Tibetan leader defends Dalai Lama over tongue-sucking remark
Penpa Tsering, head of Tibet's government-in-exile, has defended the Dalai Lama over a viral video that showed him asking a child to suck his tongue, saying the spiritual leader's actions were "innocent" and had been misinterpreted, adding it revealed his "affectionate behaviour". Though the controversial incident potentially took place on February 28 at the Dalai Lama's temple in Dharamshala, India, the video started going viral on social media earlier this month, garnering over a million views on Twitter - with some netizens calling his actions inappropriate. Following the outrage, the spiritual leader has made an apology. His office said the Dalai Lama often teases people he meets in an innocent way, adding he regrets the incident. On Thursday, Tsering said the Dalai Lama's years of spiritual practice had taken him "beyond the sensorial pleasures", underscoring the "political angle of this incident". Without offering eviden...