Selena Gomez responds to joke about her kidney transplant: "My fans always have my back"

Selena Gomez has finally responded to the recent joke made about her kidney transplant. The actor's supporters recently took to Twitter to call out the legal drama The Good Fight, after the show made a joke about Gomez's kidney transplant, which she required because she suffers from Lupus. Now, the singer herself has responded to the joke, and here's what she said - 

Selena Gomez responds to kidney transplant joke 

Selena Gomez responded to the recent joke made about her kidney transplant not mentioning anyone in particular, although it seems pretty obvious what or whom she responded to. The actor and singer took to her Instagram stories just a few hours ago, to talk about how the "tasteless" joke made about her transplant should never have made it on air and mentioned how her fans aka 'The Selenators' are always there to back her up.

Check out Selena Gomez's response below - 

Selena Gomez kidney transplant joke - How the controversy began?

In season 5 episode 4 of The Good Fight, Sarah Steele, who plays Marrisa, gets into a discussion about cancel culture with Nyambi Nyambi and Ifádansi Rashad's characters, Jay and Jim respectively. The three talk about how telling joke is dangerous in times of cancel culture and Jim prints some "joke permits." 

Jay then asks if there are any topics that they cannot joke about, when Jim says "Um, necrophilia?" to which Marissa responds with a, "No, that could be funny." Jay then says "austism," while Jim says "Selena Gomez's kidney transplant". This subtle side joke was not appreciated by fans of the Singer. Soon after, selenators began tweeting out "Respect Selena Gomez", making it a trend. 

Selena Gomez Kidney Transplant joke - not the first time? 

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time Selena's Kidney transplant has been made fun of. Peacock's Saved by the Bell reboot, which is a sitcom, infamously made a joke about Gomez's condition in November 2020. On the show, two characters argued about who donated their kidney to Selena Gomez. 

One character on the show said, "I know for a fact that Selena Gomez's kidney donor was Justin Bieber's mom," adding "God, I wish that I had my phone so that I could prove it". While another character argued how it was Gomez's former Disney BFF, Demi Lovato who donated her kidney. The series then showed another scene where a character questioned if Selena Gomez even had a kidney. 

The joke was not appreciated by supporters of Selena Gomez, leading to backlash on Twitter. Soon after, Peacock, UTV and executive producers of Saved By The Bell issued an apology and the scenes were removed. Their statement said: 

We apologize. 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.

Selena Gomez got her kidney transplant done in 2017, owing to her battle with Lupus, from her close friend Francia Raisa. The transplant is a serious subject, as it was necessary at the time to save Gomez's life, which is why fans of the actor have never taken too kindly to the so-called jokes. Gomez has been an avid supporter of organ donation since her transplant and has constantly encouraged people to become organ donors.  

Selena Gomez is soon set to appear in a murder mystery comedy on Hulu, along with Steve Martin and Martin Short. 

IMAGE - SELENA GOMEZ INSTA