If Richard Gere has gerbils up his ass these days, we sure as hell know who’s giving them tongue baths.

Richard looked happy as can be with his wife, Law & Order actress Carey Lowell, at the premiere of his new film with Diane Lane, Nights in Rodanthe in NYC on Tuesday.

Check this out:

NEW DELHI, India (AP) — 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.

He kissed the gal pictured above. Her name is Shilpa Shetty.

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.

Note that they set fire to “glamorous” shots of Shilpa. This wasn’t her in the pajamas pants with the bunnies on them. Now, you may remember the name because Shilpa was involved in a controversy with Big Brother UK. You see, Shilpa was made fun of by the UKers for being *gasp* Indian. They managed to make fun of her accent (though I’m fairly certain none of them spoke decent Hindi) and butcher the pronunciation of her name.

Here’s some video of that big fun:

So, to recap, the Brits offended her and the Yanks molested her.

I have to say for me the most offensive part of this was that it was Richard Gere. I would like myself to be burned in effigy! Then you know you’ve made it. I also hope the issue of AIDS awareness gets washed away in these protests because while people shouldn’t be allowed to kiss in public they should be allowed to hook another person up with a disease in private.