Peacock(LOS ANGELES) — Following significant backlash, the Saved by the Bell reboot has removed the controversial scenes that poked fun at Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant.
TMZ is reporting that the Peacock streaming service edited the controversial episode by scrubbing all traces of the kidney jokes that many found offensive. The updated episode is now streaming.
The now-deleted scenes were featured in the sixth episode of the reboot, where two characters argued over who donated a kidney to the “Wolves” singer. The teenage girls wrongfully claimed it was either Justin Bieber’s mother or Demi Lovato, neither of whom did.
The volatile exchange was then followed by a scene that included graffiti that read “Does Selena Gomez even have kidneys?” spray-painted in bold black letters above the hallway lockers.
Gomez, who was diagnosed with lupus — an autoimmune disease — announced in 2017 that her best friend Francia Raisa saved her life by donating her kidney.
Raisa criticized the Saved by the Bell reboot on Sunday, joining the leagues of fans demanding an apology for mocking Gomez’s personal health struggles.
While fans demanded the Peacock series to apologize, Raisa said the show insulted all organ donors, telling ABC News, “We need people to become donors and I worry that continuing to dismiss them and minimize their contributions will have a negative impact.”
Gomez has yet to personally respond to the controversy. Instead, she has been using her time promoting her photo shoot for Vogue Mexico and teasing new products coming to her Rare Beauty makeup line.
NBC Universal, Peacock and the show’s executive producers have since apologized, saying, “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.”
By Megan Stone
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