Posted on 04/27/2007 12:22:04 PM PDT by Anti-MSM
Actor Richard Gere has apologised for causing offence when he kissed Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty.
The incident, at an AIDS awareness event in Delhi, prompted public protests and then an arrest warrant for both stars over the "obscene act".
Gere, 57, said he had misread Indian customs and that he regretted any problems he had caused Shetty.
He asked for the "media circus" to end and hoped it would not detract from the message of preventing AIDS.
Gere kissed Shetty, 31, several times on the cheek while sweeping her backwards in a tango-style move.
The court in Jaipur in Rajasthan state called it "an obscene act" after a local lawyer filed a complaint.
Gere said: "What is most important to me is that my intentions as an HIV/AIDS advocate be made clear, and that my friends in India understand that it has never been, nor could it ever be, my intention to offend you.
I've felt terrible that (Shetty) should carry a burden that is no fault of hers.
Richard Gere "If that has happened, of course it is easy for me to offer a sincere apology."
Gere had earlier taken a tougher line, saying he expected any charge to be dismissed.
Speaking on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, the actor said the situation as "nothing".
"There is a very small right-wing, very conservative political party in India and they are the moral police in India... they do this kind of thing quite often," he said.
A judge had ordered Shetty to appear in his court on 5 May, saying she did nothing to resist the kiss, which he called "highly sexually erotic".
Gere said Shetty was not to blame for the incident.
"I've felt terrible that she should carry a burden that is no fault of hers," he said.
Photographs of the clinch were splashed across front pages of newspapers in India.
Public displays of affection are still largely taboo in India, and protestors in Mumbai (Bombay) set fire to effigies of Gere following the incident.
Shetty has defended Gere saying that it was all done "in good humour".
Under Indian law, a person convicted of public obscenity faces up to three months in prison, a fine or both.
Gere, star of films such as Chicago and Pretty Woman, is a Buddhist and travels to India frequently to visit the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in the north of the country.
A man did the same thing to me one time, thinking it funny and to this day I find him really disgusting....
Gere said, “Lighten up India Shett happens.”
Geeee... Mr Gerbil, swapping spit with strange women isn't exactly the "prevent AIDS" message you were going for is it! Even John Kerry is a better gigolo than you!
He probably got the shetty lips from kissing Crow’s hands.
She kept turning away from him while trying not to embarass the guy, but he wouldn’t relent. Stupid AND creepy.
He owes the gerbil an apology too.
Then go back to India and appear with her in court when she makes her court appearance, Dick.
Yeah...like that’s gonna happen.
Gerbil man is all talk but no action.
His shetty gerbil is unavailable for comment.
By gettin’ a chance to kiss her?
I think he just got his karma sorta mixed up with his tantra
wing rules!!lol
It was a court order and “Hindu extremists” had nothing to do with it.
I think he thought he was in America where some people have sex in churches.
In the movie he made in China when he was on trial,it seemed he was trying to hit on his female lawyer too.She was smart enough to avoid it.Even as an actor,she was not up to execution either actress wise or Chinese wise!!It reminded me of two instances where the woman was visibly annoyed.JF’nK and Tarayza,and the Algorathon with Tipper!!
He doesn’t have the cojones.
[Mr Gerbil]
O.K., Is there something I don’t know about gerbil’s and Gere?
In India, it is criminal to deep kiss women to the point they taste gerbil. For good reason, this is good law.
It was a GM compact car design, The Gerbil. It as discontinued because it kept getting stuck in gear.
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