The 'Saved By The Bell' Reboot Has Apologised To Selena Gomez Over Kidney Transplant Remarks

From ELLE

The long-awaited Saved By The Bell reboot is already in hot water with Selena Gomez fans after its debut.

The revival - which follows on from the hit early 1990s sitcom chronicling the lives of Bayside's high school students (Zack Morris, AC Slater, Kelly Kapowski etc) - recently premiered in the US on American NBC streaming site Peacock (currently not available in the UK) introducing a range of new characters (and some alumni cameos) to bring the students into the 2020s.

One of the new episodes discusses Selena Gomez's kidney transplant, which she underwent in 2017 following months of ill health as a consequence of her autoimmune condition, lupus.

Gomez's loyal fans were furious after a clip of the episode surfaced on social media. It shows a student walking down the school's corridor while gossip spreads among her classmates

'Now I know for a fact that Selena Gomez's kidney donor was Justin Bieber's mum,' says one student. 'I wish I had my phone so I could prove it.'

'It was Demi Lovato's kidney, they're best friends,' retorts another.

In another scene, a couple are making up and kissing in front of a backdrop where someone has graffiti'd, 'Does Selena Gomez even have kidneys?' on the school's wall.

Gomez shared the news of her kidney transplant operation with fans in 2017, revealing the organ was donated by her longtime friend, the actress Francia Raisa. The singer has discussed her health openly on multiple occasions since and most recently shared a picture on Instagram of her posing in a swimming costume, proudly showing her surgery scar to her 195 million Instagram followers.

After the episode aired, a number of fans derided the show for making light of Gomez's health issue:

In response, the creators issued a public apology, reports Vulture: '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.'

While Gomez has not publicly responded to the controversy, Raisa did via her Instagram Stories. According to E! News, the Grown-ish actor shared that several producers and cast had reached out to her personally to apologise. She also shared her thoughts on Twitter, saying while she appreciates these apologies, she wants people to consider 'donors that potentially felt offended and dismissed', sending donors a direct message crediting them for being 'brave and selfless'.

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