Selena Gomez Fans Call Out ‘The Good Fight’ Over Kidney Transplant Joke
Selena Gomez’s fans have had enough with folks making fun of her kidney transplant, which threatened her life four years ago.
In the season five episode “And the Clerk Had a Firm…” of CBS’ The Good Fight the show referenced the Disney alum’s health battle, in a discussion between Marissa (Sarah Steele), Jay (Nyambi Nyambi) and Jim (Ifádansi Rashad) discussing the topic of comedy and cancel culture, E! notes. Jay says it feels like you now “need a permission slip to tell a joke.” Jim then prints some joke permits, wondering if there are any topics that are off limits.
“Um, necrophilia?” Jim replies.
“No, that could be funny,” Marissa responds.
“Autism,” Jay says.
“Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant,” Jim states.
After seeing the scene, several of Gomez’s fans began tweeting “Respect Selena Gomez.”
https://twitter.com/ikonictobi3/status/1422368233408155651?s=20
https://twitter.com/taylenarep/status/1422363239783014407?s=20
selena's transplant isn't something to joke about, she and francia deserve better
— ً (@taylenapicss) August 3, 2021
RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ pic.twitter.com/dcsmcEsUVJ
THIS WORLD IS SICK RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ 🤬 pic.twitter.com/rsqV3OhRNJ
— Sejal (@Bewithsel) August 3, 2021
this woman deserves all the love and happiness, it's so sad how people use a hurtful moment for her just for nasty jokes, put some respect on her name
— . (@ZAYLENADOSE) August 3, 2021
RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ pic.twitter.com/LswJ6KBuc6
Selena's health is a very sensitive topic to every selenators whether they are admin of Sel's fanpages or the peoples who loves Selena. We will not allow any of the show to make joke on Sel's health
— selenagomez_fanpage (@AnamikaSingh305) August 3, 2021
RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ pic.twitter.com/9pemRAeydX
https://twitter.com/naryisrare/status/1422370484491104260?s=20
https://twitter.com/taylenarep/status/1422386545194151944?s=20
This isn’t the first time a show brought up Gomez’s kidney transplant, which she received in 2017 by her friend, Francia Raisa, just two weeks away from kidney failure. Last November, the Saved by the Bell reboot came under fire for scenes showing students gossiping over who donated the kidney and graffiti that read “Does Selena Gomez Even Have A Kidney.” After receiving backlash, Peacock, UTV and executive producers issued an apology and the scenes were removed completely.
“We apologize. It was never our intention to make light of Selena’s health,” the statement 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.”