NOT EVEN FUNNY

NBC Apologizes for Selena Gomez Kidney Joke on ‘Saved by the Bell’

They are making a donation to the singer’s lupus-research charity.

Peacock and NBCUniversal have apologized to Selena Gomez for an episode of the Saved by the Bell update that included jokes about the singer’s kidney transplant. “Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?” reads graffiti on a wall of the set. In one scene, two students discuss who donated the kidney. “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 that I could prove it,” one says, according to Variety. The other responds,“Prove what? That you’re an idiot? It was Demi Lovato’s kidney.” Gomez’s fans were outraged, and took to Twitter to express their disgust—drawing the announcement that the show would make a donation to her lupus-research charity. For the record, Gomez has been open about who donated the kidney: close friend and actress Francia Raísa.