NBC streaming service Peacock has issued an apology [1] after viewers lambasted the Saved by the Bell [2] reboot for joking about Selena Gomez [3]'s kidney transplant. On Nov. 28, the platform and the show's executive producers released a statement to Variety, saying, "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 [4] at USC."

The apology came hours after "Respect Selena Gomez" began trending on Twitter as fans slammed the series for making Gomez's surgery a punchline during the sixth episode. In one scene, a pair of Bayside students argue about the identity of Gomez's donor, unable to verify their claims because their phones have been taken away. "I know for a fact that Selena Gomez's kidney donor was Justin Bieber's mum. God, I wish that I had my phone so that I could prove it," one student says. The other classmate responds, "Prove what? That you're an idiot? It was Demi Lovato [5]'s kidney. They're best friends like you and I were." A different scene also shows graffiti on a wall that appears to read, "Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?"

Gomez revealed that she had a kidney transplant [6] due to her lupus diagnosis in 2017, also confirming that Grown-ish [7] actress Francia Raisa was her donor [8]. Both Gomez and Raisa have opened up about the physical and mental health complications they experienced [9] following the operation. While Gomez has yet to respond to the Saved by the Bell [10] backlash, Raisa tweeted on Nov. 28 [11], "Appreciate the apology but let's not forget about the donors that potentially felt offended and dismissed from the spray paint written on the wall."