Selena Gomez’s fans aren’t happy about some scenes in the Saved by The Bell reboot involving discussions about Selena’s kidney transplant, which she underwent in 2017 amid her battle with lupus.
In one scene, one character says, “I know for a fact that Selena Gomez’s kidney donor was Justin Bieber’s mom. God, I wish that I had my phone so that I could prove it.”
“Prove what? That you’re an idiot? It was Demi Lovato’s kidney. They’re best friends, like you and I were,” another character replies.
Another scene shows a graffiti on the wall that reads, “Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?”
Selena has previously opened up about the grave conditions surrounding her kidney transplant, saying it had been a matter of life and death.
“My kidneys were just done. That was it, and I didn’t want to ask a single person in my life…That was the day I came home and I found out. And [Francia Raisa] volunteered and did it,” she told the Today show. “I guess I got to a point where it was really life or death.”
Fans took to Twitter to call out the show, ending their tweets with “RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ.”
“using what selena gomez went through for entertainment is blatantly insensitive and wrong. what she went through was real and it wasn’t easy. it’s so incredibly disgusting seeing it be used as a joke for entertainment,” one fan tweeted.
“Joking about someone’s disease is not funny whatsoever,” another wrote. “It’s just so cruel and unjust. Selena doesn’t deserve that & no one else deserves that either.”
“Selena almost lost her life, jokes about her kidney transplant is NOT FUNNY,” another fan wrote, in part.
“This was Selena’s last post before she went into surgery for her kidney transplant. she said goodbye to all & the world coz she didn’t know if she’ll survive & these people are out here making jokes about it for some clout,” one fan wrote alongside a screenshot of Selena’s Instagram post from June 2017, where she shared a photo of her posing with fans captioned, “My heart will forever and always be with people. There’s never enough I could do to thank you but more importantly show you that YOU matter and are beyond watched over.”
Peacock, NBC Universal and the show’s executive producers released a statement to address the backlash.
“We apologize. It was never our intention to make light of Selena’s health. We have been in touch with her team and will be making a donation to her charity, The Selena Gomez Fund for Lupus Research at USC,” the statement said, via Entertainment Tonight.
Selena’s friend and kidney donor, Francia Raisa, has since spoken out on the matter.
“Some of the cast and producers have reached out to me personally to apologize for this and I truly appreciate that, but I do want to acknowledge that this public apology from the network should acknowledge the donors that could have been offended by this,” Francia wrote on her Instagram Story. “It’s not about me, it’s about acknowledging the great role that donors play @nbc @peacocktv #savedbythebell.”
