Peacock Apologizes For “Saved By The Bell” Joke About Selena Gomez’s Kidney Transplant

NBC’s Peacock has apologized for a joke in the new Saved by the Bell reboot that referenced Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant in what many viewers found to be a distasteful way.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

“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,” Peacock, NBC Universal, and the show’s executive producers said in a statement according to The Hollywood Reporter.

In the sixth episode of the season, two students argue over who donated a kidney to the singer in 2017.

“I know for a fact that Selena Gomez’s kidney donor was Justin Bieber’s mom,” one student says. “God, I wish that I had my phone so that I could prove it.”

“Prove what?” the other replies. “That you’re an idiot? It was Demi Lovato’s kidney. They’re best friends, like you and I were.”

“Respect Selena Gomez,” trended on Twitter after the episode released.

In 2017, due to her lupus condition, Gomez needed kidney surgery. She later shared that her donor was her close friend, Francia Raisa. “There aren’t words to describe how I can possibly thank my beautiful friend Francia Raisa. She gave me the ultimate gift and sacrifice by donating her kidney to me,” she said on Instagram after the surgery. 

[Via]