Despite The Good Fight‘s intentions, they aren’t the first show to reference Selena’s kidney transplant.
In November 2020, the Saved by the Bell reboot received backlash for its scenes depicting students gossiping about who donated the kidney to the “Rare” singer. Additionally, there was graffiti in the background that read “Does Selena Gomez Even Have A Kidney.”
After coming under fire, Peacock, UTV and the executive producers of the reboot issued an apology and removed the scenes from the series.
“We apologize,” a statement read at the time. “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.”
Francia Raisa, who donated one of her kidneys to Selena, spoke out about the episode, revealing that several cast members and producers had privately reached out to her to apologize.
At the time, Selena didn’t publicly address Saved By the Bell‘s controversy.