WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Richard Gere pushes AIDS awareness in India, commits faux pas

Richard Gere pushes AIDS awareness in India, commits faux pas

NEW DEHLI, INDIA (NBC) - Actor Richard Gere urged India's truckers to halt the spread of AIDS.

Gere was in New Delhi Sunday at an event sponsored by an Indian Truckers Organization.

The United Nations estimates that India has more HIV positive people than any other country. Truckers are the most vulnerable section of Indian society to the disease because they often visit prostitutes during their long absences from home.

Gere says, "One of the groups working hard in the area are the truckers, the truckers' organization and the truckers themselves, whose responsibility is to work on the issue and be part of the solution and not a part of the problem."

But reports say the actor has also caused a controversy in India. Gere planted several kisses on the cheek of Indian actress Shilpa Shetty at the event.

Monday, groups of men burned an effigy of Gere and kicked the smoking remains in the city of Kanpur. Similar scenes took place in at least three other cities. The protesters said Gere's kissing of Shetty was against Indian culture.

Posted by Chantelle Janelle