#Selena Gomez Fans Call Out Saved By The Bell Reboot Over Insensitive Kidney Transplant Jokes!

The Saved By The Bell re-boot is walking back a joke it made at the expense of Selena Gomez after her hard-charging fans went after the new show!

The reboot is streaming now on NBC Universal‘s Peacock streaming service, and in the sixth episode of the show, titled “Teen Line,” there are two jokes in which Selena’s kidney transplant surgery gets brought up. And now, her fans are PISSED — and they’ve taken to Twitter to defend the superstar singer!

Related: Selena Fell Into ‘A Bit Of A Depression’ During The Pandemic Quarantine

In one scene, two students at the fictional Bayside High — who were played by actors that are not cast members — argue over who the Confident singer’s transplant donor really was, with the first saying (below):

“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 I could prove it.”

And the second retorted:

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

Uhhh… OK.

Not sure about the punch line there, but, whatever. (And, of course, Selena’s friend and Grown-ish actress Francia Raisa was the one who gave the pop princess a kidney via transplant, not Demi Lovato.)

Later on in the episode, one of the school walls had a message written in black graffiti on it, with the text appearing to read:

“Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?”

WTF? Where do all these random (and not particularly funny) references come from?! It’s not like they’re even good jokes. They just exist to… exist. Like, what on earth?!

Selena’s fans took exception to both references once they were discovered, though, and the social media chatter about whatever the f**k is going down at Bayside High was BRUTAL!

Related: Selena ‘Got So Angry’ When The Media Twisted Her Mental Health Journey

Here are just a few of the social media responses where fans expressed outrage over the singer’s mistreatment at the hands of Saved By The Bell writers and show runners, all under the trending topic “Respect Selena Gomez” (below):

“Selena has been through so much in her life, with [sic] kidney transplant, constant battle with lupus, and her struggle with bipolar disorder. It makes me sick how some people think it’s funny to joke about a disease.”

“wtf is wrong with this show and it’s [sic] obsession with selenas [sic] health??? this is so disgusting and unnecessary.”

“The show-runners should’ve known how tone deaf [sic] and insensitive to lupus survivors it was to have ‘does selena gomez even have kidneys’ spray painted [sic] on the wall. You’re not edgy you’re disrespectful.”

Amen!

Interestingly, Peacock has already walked back their Gomez jokes, releasing a statement of apology to E! News on Saturday afternoon (below):

“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.”

Big Yikes!!!

Seriously, it’d be one thing if the jokes were funny, but they each fall super flat and they’re kind of mean — so, like, what even is the point? Who’s writing this crap?!

What do U think about this drama, Perezcious readers?! Sound OFF with your opinions on the matter in the comments down (below)!

[Image via WENN/Avalon]