Richard Gere tried to stop the storm over a public kiss he gave a Bollywood star at an AIDS awareness event by apologized for any offense. Gere’s embrace and kiss of Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty sparked several noisy demonstrations by hard-line Hindu groups and a flurry of legal complaints, which ended with a judge 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, nor could it ever be, my intention to offend you,” Gere said in statement issued by the Heroes Project, an organization he co-founded to combat AIDS in India.”If that has happened, of course it is easy for me to offer a sincere apology,” he said. The embrace, in front of about 4,000 truckers, was a failed parody of a move from the film ‘Shall We Dance’ and “a naive misread of Indian customs,” he said. Gere had earlier taken a firmer tone, hitting back at a small group who had complained.”There is a very small, right-wing, very conservative political party in India, and they are the moral police in India and they do this kind of thing quite often,” he told Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.’”I dont know that anyone has actually gone to jail, it has to go through a process. It goes to a reputable court, and they throw it out,” he said. Under Indian law, a person convicted of public obscenity faces up to three months in prison, a fine, or both. Legal experts agreed with Gere. “The order is ridiculous. Even if this hugging and kissing was a bit vulgar, it does not amount to obscenity,” India’s former attorney general Soli Sorabjee said. Sorabjee said the judge should not have issued an arrest warrant without hearing from Gere and Shetty. “He is just seeking publicity,” he said.”I would hope that the media could now end the circus around this episode and dedicate its positive resources and expertise to the eradication of HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases,” Gere said. That’s what’s really important here.”