Selena Gomez’s Kidney Donor Speaks Out After Saved By The Bell Transplant Joke

Francia Raisa has received an apology after her brave decision to donate a kidney to Selena Gomez was made light of in a recent episode of Saved by the Bell.

One scene showed two Bayside High students arguing about the identity of the donor who saved Selena's life in 2017, with one girl arguing it was “Justin Bieber’s mom” as another claimed it was Demi Lovato: “They’re best friends, like you and I were."

Another scene featured the words: "Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?" graffitied on a wall.

Francia reacted to the episode on Instagram Stories, writing: "Some of the cast and producers have reached out to me personally to apologize for this and I truly appreciate that…"

https://twitter.com/franciaraisa/status/1332830178549002242

She added: “I do want to acknowledge that this public apology from the network should acknowledge the donors that could have been offended by this. It’s not about me, it’s about acknowledging the great role that donors play @nbc @peacock #savedbythebell"

Fans have been publicly critical of the episode, with "RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ" trending worldwide on Twitter. 

Peacock, NBCUniversal, and executive producers of Saved by the Bell have now apologised for the controversy in a statement to Variety.

"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."