Richard Gere burned in effigy - nothing to do with gerbils

**twitchy** · April 16th, 2007, 11:19 AM

Protesters burn effigies of Gere after Shilpa kiss

By Prithwish Ganguly

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Richard Gere's repeated kisses on the cheeks of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty in an event to promote AIDS awareness sparked protests in India on Monday with demonstrators burning effigies of the actor.

Hollywood star Gere had joined Shetty, the winner of the "Celebrity Big Brother" reality TV show in Britain this year, in a safe sex campaign among truckers in India, the country with the world's largest number of people living with HIV

"No condom, no sex," an ebullient 58-year-old Gere shouted in Hindi to thousands of truck drivers who roared his words back in unison at a dusty fairground in New Delhi late on Sunday.

They whooped with delight and whistled loudly as Gere swooped down on a visibly delighted Shetty to kiss her on her hand and a number of times on one side of her face.

But on Monday, groups of men shouting "Down with Richard Gere," burned the Hollywood star's effigies and kicked the smoking remains in the northern Indian cities of Kanpur, Meerut and Varanasi as well as in the central city of Indore.

The protesters said Gere's kissing of Shilpa was against Indian culture.
Some burned Shetty's posters shouting "Death to Shilpa Shetty" and danced around the smoldering ashes, TV footage showed.

The kissing scenes were shown repeatedly on TV news channels with viewers commenting on Gere's actions.

Others said there was too much fuss over a few kisses.

"I think he responded as an actor. He was playing to the gallery," said Anjali Gopalan, head of Naz Foundation India, an anti-AIDS prevention and care group.

"I don't see anything bad," she said on Headlines Today television.
Shetty's spokesman said TV networks were going overboard.

"The media should concentrate on promotion of the cause of AIDS awareness rather than make 'issues' out of Richard Gere's kisses," Dale Bhagwagar said.
Protesters burn effigies of Gere after Shilpa kiss - Yahoo! News

**Grimmlok** · April 16th, 2007, 11:57 AM

Oh grow up, back to your huts ya bunch of primitives.

**aabbcc** · April 16th, 2007, 12:22 PM

I wouldn't mind locking lips with Shilpa. She's gorgeous.

**Gum Dumpster** · April 16th, 2007, 01:01 PM

If they're so mad about this they should do something about it and vote Richard off on Friday! Oh, wait that's not how this works is it.

**Sassiness** · April 16th, 2007, 11:36 PM

what is the history fo Gere and gerbils? I've heard allusions to it on a number of occasions but have no clue what the story is. Anyone??

**ByRDi** · April 17th, 2007, 12:11 AM

The story about the gerbils was he put one up his arse. It's always been touted as totally false and impossible and I believe that as well.

OT, this is ridiculous...the media is so gross. FOCUS...there's a disease...it kills you...they are trying to help it NOT kill you. Fucking shit man!

**msdeb** · April 17th, 2007, 01:40 AM

Originally Posted by Sassiness

what is the history fo Gere and gerbils? I've heard allusions to it on a number of occasions but have no clue what the story is. Anyone??

okay my one claim to fame. i actually KNOW about this one. When i was living in Cypress CA, my roomie Leonda worked at a hospital in los angeles, and came home and told us all about Richard Gere and the gerbil, that she was the admitting nurse. apparently he registered under another name. he had the gerbil in his ass, and it died. We didnt really hear anything else about it until it was in the paper a couple weeks later. This was in the 70's (75-76 maybe?). I cant remember too much since it was a long time ago, but i do remember she wasnt fazed by this at all since it went on a lot, according to her. if it was anyone else, i'd say they were lying, but she wasnt a liar.

**Sassiness** · April 17th, 2007, 03:24 AM

Hilarious!

Anything to do wtih gerbils always reminds me of this: 1998 Urban Legend: Gerbil Rocket

**aabbcc** · April 17th, 2007, 06:46 AM

I feel for the gerbil. Why would anyone do such a stupid thing?

**Picara** · April 17th, 2007, 10:22 AM

I saw the video of Gere kissing the actress. He seemed drunk or something. It was over the top. Not enough to be burned in effigy, of course. LOL.

As for the gerbil story, I read that he always believed that Sylvester Stallone started that rumor about him.

**AgentOrange** · April 17th, 2007, 11:53 AM

I'm surprised that PETA has demanded that Gere answer for himself. Maybe a visit from heather Mills might make him more thoughtful towards animals??

**sluce** · April 17th, 2007, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by msdebagain

okay my one claim to fame. i actually KNOW about this one. When i was living in Cypress CA, my roomie Leonda worked at a hospital in los angeles, and came home and told us all about Richard Gere and the gerbil, that she was the admitting nurse. apparently he registered under another name. he had the gerbil in his ass, and it died. We didnt really hear anything else about it until it was in the paper a couple weeks later. This was in the 70's (75-76 maybe?). I cant remember too much since it was a long time ago, but i do remember she wasnt fazed by this at all since it went on a lot, according to her. if it was anyone else, i'd say they were lying, but she wasnt a liar.

Sorry but you KNOW only the story you heard. The story went around in several versions all with people who knew someone who worked at the hospital and claimed they were there. Last I heard he reportedly had been in 4 different hospitals in several different states. This same BS story went around about Jerry Penacoli when he was a newscaster in Philly and several other celebs. Of course there were tons of people who swore they knew someone who worked at the hosital he went to too. As entertaining as it may be I've come to the conclusion that all the stories are bullshit!

**HWBL** · April 17th, 2007, 02:15 PM

Originally Posted by Picara

I saw the video of Gere kissing the actress. He seemed drunk or something. It was over the top. Not enough to be burned in effigy, of course. LOL.

True. He acted like an idiot. Kinda surprising for a person who's always flaunted his all encompasing knowledge of all things global. This peace loving, Dhalai Lama kissing, "intellectual" man really looked like he fell into a tub of booze

**AliceInWonderland** · April 17th, 2007, 07:14 PM

OH PULEASE; GIVE ME A DAMN BREAK .... on the other hand - thats so sad about that many ppl having HIV and AIDS though in that country

**Seapharris7** · April 17th, 2007, 07:23 PM

Ok... the way the article sounds is during the event - when they were discussing "no condom, no sex" - people were cheering...

Then when a man kissed a woman (and YEAH - he was either drunk or on something) in public - they freak? I would have thought they would have been offended that Richard looked like he was forcing himself on a woman that didnt want to be kissed.

Do these people fuck without kissing?!?

More importantly, how do they feel about girl on girl kissing, cause I would have done the same!!!

(Damn you Richard Gere - damn you!)