Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - April 28, 2007
Gere's embrace and kiss of actress Shilpa Shetty, 31, sparked several noisy demonstrations by hard-line Hindu groups and a flurry of legal complaints, which ended with a judge in the city of Jaipur issuing an arrest warrant for the two stars for violating obscenity laws.
"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 ... my intention to offend you," Gere said in statement issued by the Heroes Project, an organization Gere co-founded to fight AIDS in India.
"If that has happened, of course it is easy for me to offer a sincere apology," he said.
The embrace was a failed parody of Gere's film "Shall We Dance," and "a naive misread of Indian customs," he said.
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The Personals page was compiled by Alan Leo from Tribune news services and staff reports.
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