Mr Vegas slams the Dalai Lama - Artiste wants zero tolerance for paedophilia

Dancehall artiste Mr Vegas has branded as hypocritical the stance many Jamaicans have taken towards the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, who asked a young boy to suck his tongue during a public gathering in February.

Countless numbers of persons across the globe, including in Jamaica, have reacted to the incident with fury. The Dalai Lama, who kissed the young Indian boy on his lips, has apologised for his behaviour. The office for the Dalai Lama said the spiritual leader regretted his actions.

"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," said a statement from the office of the 87-year-old leader.

"His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident."

Mr Vegas, in condemning the actions of the Dalai Lama, said he wished Jamaicans would be more strident in their stance on child molesters on the island.

"We have a so-called culture where we don't make it a priority to weed out paedophilia behaviour," Mr Vegas said. To make his point, he pointed the fingers at a St Catherine-based pastor who he said was convicted in New York, USA, of molesting a 12 and 14-year-old, and was deported to Jamaica.

"The government knows about it .... He was allowed to open a church, so it only shows that we support paedophilia in Jamaica or the Diaspora," the often controversial singjay told THE STAR on Monday.

"We have seen so many instances where the religious people who have been caught or found guilty in the act of molesting children receive a slap on the wrist. Look at the Moravian pastor in St Elizabeth who got two underaged girls pregnant and got eight years in prison," the artiste lamented.

His reference was to pastor Rupert Clarke who pleaded guilty in 2018 to having sexual intercourse with two sisters who were under the age of 16 years old.

Commenting on the development with the Dalai Lama, the Reverend Sean Major-Campbell, rector of Christ Church in Vineyard Town, Kingston, said it is likely to create further distrust between religious leaders and their following.

"It is always gut-wrenching when religious leaders betray the trust invested in them. Even worse is the pain and trauma caused to those who held them in high esteem," Major-Campbell said.