Selena Gomez blasts The Good Fight over joke about her kidney transplant

Selena Gomez hit back after The Good Fight included a joke about her kidney transplant. Photo / Getty Images

Selena Gomez has slammed "tasteless jokes" about her kidney transplant, after an episode of The Good Fight made light of her surgery.

The 29-year-old singer underwent a kidney transplant in 2017 after complications from lupus, when her friend Francia Raisa agreed to be her organ donor as nobody in her family was a match.

And in a recent episode of legal drama The Good Fight, several characters can be seen having a discussion about what is off limits in comedy, with topics including autism and "Selena Gomez's kidney transplant".

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A post shared by Selena Gomez (@selenagomez)

The joke refers to a previous instance where Selena's operation was used for comedy purposes during an episode of the Saved By The Bell reboot, in which two characters debated over who Selena's donor was, as well as featuring graffiti which read "Does Selena Gomez even have kidneys?".

Following the Good Fight episode, Selena took to Instagram this week to blast the attempts at comedy as "tasteless".

"RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ" was trending worldwide on Twitter after an episode of "The Good Fight" in which they joke about Selena Gomez's kidney transplant. 😒⁣🚮 pic.twitter.com/ivMbzsEi3C

— Selena Gomez Fan Page (@selenaecumedia3) August 3, 2021

She wrote on her Instagram Story: "I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing but sadly it has apparently. I hope in the next writer's room but when one of these tasteless jokes are presented it's called out immediately and doesn't make it on air. My fans always have my back. LOVE YOU. (sic)"

I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing but sadly it has apparently. I hope in the next writer’s room when one of these tasteless jokes are presented it’s called out immediately and doesn’t make it on air.

— Selena Gomez (@selenagomez) August 3, 2021

As of the time of writing, The Good Fight has not issued a statement about the joke, nor has its broadcaster, Paramount Plus.

After the initial joke in Saved By The Bell, bosses of the reboot eventually edited the episode and removed the scenes, and an apology was issued by NBC.

They said in a statement: "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."