Similarly: why do this in public in front of cameras if it was a 'sexual' act and not an innocent one? Did he suddenly become some sort of paedophilic sexual exhibitionist in his last few years of life? Why are we only seeing this now? i mean there could be lots of reasons for your suggestion. It's highly likely his spokespeople felt they needed to rush to play down the social media hype and probably didn't even know the background of this phrase themselves when they issued that apology. I'd be surprised if they even briefed HH on the apology before they issued it. He's an old man, after all, and I'm sure he doesn't spend all his time on social media. Not including that in the apology doesn't equate to being guilty, which seems to be your implication. You may be right, of course. But that lends to conspiratorial thinking, IMO, rather than using reason and giving the benefit of the doubt, which i personally think he has earned. He's not 'a saint' but i also don't think he's a child molester.

Also, if you look at his history you'll find lots of images and stories of him sticking out his tongue to greet people, including Desmond Tutu. That said, i don't think it was a "good look" for him, and it clearly makes the kid a bit awkward in the video, at which point the Dalai Lama pulls his tongue away and clearly looks like he's 'joking'. i do think it's very easy to be reactive to this stuff without broader context. A social faux pas for sure, sexual malevolence? Unlikely but not implausible. If he's really been "doing the kinda stuff" you clearly suspect he's been doing, the truth will come out sooner or later. But I personally don't believe that will happen as i honestly don't think he has. i may, of course, be proven wrong though.