Fans recently flocked to Twitter to slam the new reboot of Saved By The Bell after a recent episode from the show made light of Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant, which she first spoke about back in 2017. The episode mentioned the transplant in two separate scenes, one that showed the question “Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?” written on the wall of the school’s hallway, and another that found the characters speculating who the donor behind her new kidney was.
In this discussion, names like Justin Bieber’s mom and her “best friend” and Demi Lovato were brought up. After fans shared their frustrations with the platform, Peacock issued a statement and apologized for making “light of Selena’s health.”
“We apologize. It was never our intention to make light of Selena’s health,” Peacock, NBC Universal, and the show’s executive producer’s said in a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter. “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 response from fans to the scene, which occurred in the sixth episode of the show’s reboot, found them labeling it as “disgusting,” “disrespectful,” “unnecessary,” and more. As a result of their comments on Twitter, fans made the phrase “Respect Selena Gomez” trend on the social media site. The incident also occurred a few months after the singer first shared an image of her kidney transplant scar on Twitter to “feel confident.”
(via The Hollywood Reporter)