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Published 18:33 IST, December 2nd 2020

'Saved By The Bell' removes scenes about Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant after backlash

'Saved By The Bell' deletes scenes about Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant and makers apologised after receiving backlash from fans on social media.

Reported by: Arundhati Vivek
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The sixth episode of the new Saved By The Bell series features a couple of scenes that have mentioned Selena Gomez’s 2017 kidney transplant and not in the nicest way. The scenes have joked about who was the kidney donor and also graffiti regarding her transplant. Read further ahead to know more about the now-deleted scenes after the makers apologized about them.

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Saved By The Bells removes scenes about Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant

The new season of Saved By The Bell jokes about Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant in its sixth episode. There are two minor characters who argue about who was Selena’s donor, as one says, “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 I could prove it.” Then the other one says, “Prove what? That you're an idiot. It was Demi Lovato's kidney. They're best friends... like you and I were.”

Further in the episode, two of the lead characters stand in front of a wall that has 'Does Selena Gomez even have a kidney?' written on it with spray paint, while they patched up and kiss. The scenes have now been taken off the latest streaming version of the episode. Selena Gomez has avoided making a comment on any of this, however, her fans have not taken it well and stormed social media against the show using her transplant.

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Francia Rasia, who was the actual kidney donor for Selena and is also a close friend, took to her social media to announce that the producers of the high school comedy series have reached out to her and apologized. Rasia also mentioned that this might be insensitive and hurtful for the people who have got kidneys or donated them. She wrote in a now-expired Instagram story, “Some of the cast and producers have reached out to me personally to apologize for this and I truly appreciate that. But 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,” and tagged Peacock, NBC’s streaming platform.

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She also took to her Twitter to inform about the apology. “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”, she wrote. Then went on to appreciate other kidney donors across the world.

She tweeted, “As a kidney donor I want to show love and let other donors know that you are not alone. You are seen. You are appreciated. You are so brave, and your selfless act is very much appreciated and valued!' The executive producers of the show have joined UTV and Peacock in issuing an apology statement. They wrote, “We apologize. It was never our intention to make light of Selena's health,' it read. '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.”

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18:33 IST, December 2nd 2020