Peacock Apologizes To Selena Gomez For Jokes About Her Kidney Transplant In The “Saved By The Bell” Reboot

November 29, 2020 / Posted by:

Two weird Saved By The Bell-related things happened this week. The first is that the Saved By The Bell sequel/reboot/revival whatever actually got good reviews when some of us thought it was going to be shittier than the Dirty Sanchez in Screech’s eyeball-and-nose-destroying sex tape. The other thing is that the writers of the Saved By The Bell reboot have shown themselves to be obsessors of Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant (that fetish is a new one) because in one episode, they bring it up more than once. And after Selena’s fans threw shit at Peacock, they have apologized.

In 2015, Selena Gomez said during a Billboard interview that she was diagnosed with lupus. And because of organ damage related to lupus, Selena needed a kidney transplant. In 2017, she got a kidney from her friend Francia Raisa. Fast forward to now. Variety says that in the sixth episode of the new SBTB, the students at Bayside High get their phones taken away by the principal and so the kids can’t fact-check stuff on their phones. And that comes up in a fight about Selena’s kidney donor between two students:

Student #1: Now 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.

Student #2: Prove what? That you’re an idiot? It was Demi Lovato’s kidney. They’re best friends, like you and I were-

Here’s that scene:

First of all, what in “Bratz doll after hitting up a Judy’s going out of business sale circa 1989” HELL is that girl in the hat wearing? Second of all, if I was a janitor at Bayside and overheard that conversation, my old ass would have to educate those uneducated dum-dums by saying, “Actually, it was Francia Raisa who gave Selena a kidney and Selena and Demi aren’t best friends anymore.” And I wouldn’t need a phone to look that info up!

I’m guessing that Francia Raisa promised a kidney to the NBC Peacock and then decided at the last minute to give one to Selena instead because another Selena Gomez kidney reference comes up in the episode. As two football players say words to each other, the background features the question “Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?” written in graffiti on a wall.

Selena’s fans got mad and that’s why #RespectSelenaGomez trended on Twitter yesterday. Peacock apologized in a statement to Variety and their apology came with a promise that they’ll donate to Selena’s charity:

“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.”

Selena hasn’t said anything about this, but Francia Raisa tweeted about how that conspiracy theory graffiti message could be offensive to organ donors:

Peacock should also apologize to Selena Gomez for reminding us all that she regularly humped on Justin Bieber. On another note, NBC should keep the apologizing coming by apologizing for never doing something right for once by giving us a full album from Hot Sundae:

Pic: Wenn.com

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