Amelia Jones
Amid the controversy surrounding the Dalai Lama kissing a boy and asking him to 'suck his tongue', footage has resurfaced of the spiritual leader making Lady Gaga feel very uncomfortable as he tickled her knee.
The footage comes from a 2016 meeting, when the famous faces from very different spheres met at a conference in Indiana, United States.
The focus of his meeting with Gaga was to bring more kindness to a violent world, touching on mental and physical health care in society, spirituality, and, in turn, social problems of the moment.
While the sound of the video is somewhat garbled, we hear the speaker announce the panel as the 87-year-old tickles the American singer’s knee, in the area where her jeans are torn.
When he pulls his hand away, Gaga looks him in the eye and shakes her head, smiling awkwardly.
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He them attempts to touch more of the leg, but the artist manages to place her hand over his to stop the contact, before they are interrupted by the speaker saying: "If I can get their attention," as she notices the incident and the audience laugh out loud.
While the 87-year-old has publicly apologised to the boy and his family, and anyone else who was hurt by his actions, saying he 'regrets the incident', supporters have insisted the exchange was standard in Tibetan culture.
The Gaga video, which was tweeted by Oli London earlier this week, has been viewed 1.6m times, and the backlash against the Dalai Lama continues in the comments.
One person guessed that this week's footage was just the tip of the iceberg saying: "I have a feeling we will start to see more videos."
Another voiced their disgust at the seemingly unsolicited contact: "She doesn't look comfortable at all. I didn't know he was such a creeper."
"Religion poisons everything. He quite literally thinks he is a deity. How’s that working out?," said another more broadly on the topic of religious leaders.
Others defended the Dalai Lama and cited cultural nuances that may be lost in translation.
"Are you aware in some part of the world touching, teasing and laughing is considered normal. You need to travel and learn more. Whatever you have been taught so far it hasn’t have to be that way. Every culture and country is different. Men holding hands is normal in some."
It's worth noting, however, that the Dalai Lama's own statement made no reference to Tibetan traditions or culture.
It read: "A video clip has been circulating that shows a recent meeting when a young boy asked His Holiness the Dalai Lama if he could give him a hug.
“His Holiness 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.
"His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way. He regrets the incident."