Sophie MullerPeacock, NBC’s streaming service, has apologized for seemingly making fun of Selena Gomez‘s kidney transplant on its reboot of Saved By the Bell.
“Respect Selena Gomez” trended on Twitter on Saturday, Variety reports, as Selenators were up in arms about the references to the singer on the show.
According to Variety, a scene from episode six of the series showed two students at Bayside High gossiping about who donated a kidney to Selena — despite the fact that Selena has publicly stated that it was her friend Francia Raisa. In fact, she even posted photos of them side-by-side in the hospital.
“I know for a fact that Selena Gomez’s kidney donor was Justin Bieber’s mom,” said a student. “God, I wish that I had my phone so that I could prove it.”
“Prove what?” the other student says. “That you’re an idiot? It was Demi Lovato’s kidney. They’re best friends, like you and I were.”
In another scene, graffiti on a wall appears to read, “Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?”
In a statement to Variety, Peacock, NBCUniversal and the show’s executive producers said, “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.”
One fan tweeted, “Saved by the Bell, that’s disgusting. Selena almost lost her life, jokes about her kidney transplant is NOT FUNNY. Respect Selena Gomez.“
Another wrote, “Joking about someone’s disease is not funny whatsoever. It’s just so cruel and unjust. Selena doesn’t deserve that & no one else deserves that either. RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ.”
Selena revealed in 2017 that she’d had a kidney transplant as a result of her struggle with the autoimmune disease lupus.
By Andrea Dresdale
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