Demonstrators appeared chanting banners at a comedian’s party who mocked the Dalai Lama’s interaction with a child.
A crowd of 150 men, women and children surrounded the entrance to Melbourne’s Rubber Chicken Comedy pub on Tuesday as comedian Louis Spears was taking to the stage.
It comes after Spears performed a crude routine mocking the Dalai Lama after a Buddhist monk told a young boy to “suck his tongue” at an event in India last February.
But the pedophilia jokes fell superficially to the Buddhist protesters who arrived at the pub, one of this year’s designated venues. Melbourne Comedy Festival.
On the venue’s video site, protesters are seen standing outside the pub holding flags and banners, one of which reads, “Stupid joke that hurts the feelings of seven million Tibetans.”
A crowd of 150 men, women and children barricaded the entrance to Melbourne’s Rubber Chicken Comedy pub on Tuesday (pictured) to protest the jokes of the Dalai Lama portrayed by Lewis Spears.
‘I will not allow these protesters to scare or intimidate me,’ Mr. Spears (pictured) said on his social media.
In the video released, protesters are seen standing outside holding flags and banners, one of which reads: “Your stupid joke hurts the feelings of seven million Tibetans” (pictured)
Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama’s office apologized earlier last week after a video of him with the child went viral on social media.
Another banner read: “Think and search before you open your mouth.”
“Louis Spears is not funny,” “we demand an apology,” and “Louis Spears shame shame shame,” the crowd chanted, according to a social media post for the pub.
A woman protester is heard speaking in the posted video saying she has “never heard of this guy” despite being a “follower” of the comic.
But the footage showed her voice fading as the camera rolled into the bar with patrons sitting around her applauding the performers.
The pub said that “the irony is not lost” on Mr. Spears because Tibetans who have been gagged by Chinese authorities abroad are now trying to “silence someone else in their new country”.
It comes after Australian Tibetans wrote to the comedy festival’s organizers calling for Spears’ show Brace Yourself to be pulled from the festival.
But the comedian said that did not happen.
“I will not let these protesters intimidate or intimidate me,” he said on social media ahead of his parade on Tuesday.
“They have the right to protest and I have the right to make jokes about people because we live in a free country.”
Meanwhile, T.JThe Dalai Lama’s office apologized earlier this week after a video of him with the child went viral, leading to a flurry of comments on social media that his behavior amounted to abuse.
The video, which was filmed in February and circulated this month, has been viewed more than 1 million times on Twitter.
The footage showed the moment the Tibetan leader invited the boy on stage during a charity event at his temple in Dharamshala, northern India, in February.
In the video, the boy asks the Dalai Lama “Can I hug you?”.
The spiritual leader first asked the boy to kiss him on the cheek, before pointing to his lips.
He then grabbed the boy’s face when they appeared to kiss briefly, and then the pair pressed their foreheads together.
Then the Dalai Lama added, “And suck my tongue” — prompting the boy to slowly move forward toward the 87-year-old’s tongue, before turning back, without making any contact.
In the video, those present at the event, put on by India’s M3M Foundation, can be heard laughing as the boy sits awkwardly in front of the elderly Tibetan Buddhist leader and nervously follows his orders.
“Louis Spears is not funny,” “we demand an apology,” and “Louis Spears shame shame shame,” the crowd chanted, a social media post read.
Then the Dalai Lama added, ‘And suck my tongue’ – prompting the boy to slowly move forward towards the 87-year-old’s tongue (pictured), before turning back, without making any contact.
Some supporters of the Dalai Lama rallied to his defense, claiming that their leader was simply “joking”.
The Buddhist leader’s office issued a statement last week.
“His Holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends around the world, for the hurt his words may have caused,” the statement read.
His Holiness often teases the people he encounters in an innocent and playful manner, even in public and in front of cameras.
“He regrets the accident.”
