Saved By The Bell
The people behind the Saved By The Bell reboot have issued an apology.
It's after they faced backlash for making light of Selena Gomez's kidney transplant story on the show.
Selena received a kidney transplant from her friend Francia Raisa in 2017.
She's opened up about the terrifying experience in past interviews.
At the time she wrote on Instagram that her pal, 'gave [her] the ultimate gift and sacrifice,' by donating her kidney.
On an episode of the brand new Saved By The Bell reboot, Selena's story was referenced a number of times.
In one scene, according to videos shared online, two students argue over who Selena's transplant donor was.
One character says, "I know for a fact that Selena Gomez's kidney donor was Justin Bieber's mom."
In another scene, the wall behind two students is covered in graffiti.
It reads, 'Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?'
Backlash
Twitter users have been slamming the show online calling the references, 'disgusting and unnecessary.'
Saved by the Bell, that's disgusting. Selena almost lost her life, jokes about her kidney transplant is NOT FUNNY. Respect Selena Gomez. pic.twitter.com/c8AZbsU1m0
— Selena Charts (@selenachartsbr) November 28, 2020
the show “saved by the bell reboot” has an extremely disgusting scene where they were mocking the superstar selena gomez’s health, by writing this on the wall. i don’t know what was the point of it, all i know that it needs to be removed asap, thank you. @UniversalTV @peacockTV pic.twitter.com/LYRkdPPljV
— ‘🧩 (@littleselss) November 28, 2020
An apology
The people behind the show - Peacock, UTV and executive producers - have released a statement shared with E! News.
They said, 'We apologise. 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.'
No further comment has been made.
