Richard Gere Burned in Effigy

(New Delhi, India) Jeez, I was under the impression that Richard Gere was a respect-for-all-living-things, holier-than-thou Buddhist. This story seems to indicate that he's just an ordinary guy, insensitive to the values of the people around him.

Angry crowds in several Indian cities burned effigies of Richard Gere on Monday after he swept a popular Bollywood actress into his arms and kissed her several times during an AIDS-awareness event.

Photographs of the 57-year-old actor embracing Shilpa Shetty and kissing her on the cheek at an HIV/AIDS awareness event in New Delhi were splashed across Monday's front pages in India - a country where sex and public displays of affection are largely taboo.

In Mumbai, members of the right-wing Hindu nationalist group Shiv Sena beat burning effigies of Gere with sticks and set fire to glamorous shots of Shetty.

Heh.