Selena Gomez fans are done with these same old jokes.
The singer's supporters recently took to Twitter to call out an episode of The Good Fight, which referenced the Disney alum's health battle. However, a source close to the show tells E! News, "If you watch the episode in full, the reference to Gomez is part of a discussion the characters are having about topics that are not okay to make fun of and the idea of cancel culture and being cancelled for telling a bad joke. The reference is that her transplant is not something you can joke about."
In season five, episode four, a comedy streaming executive Del (Wayne Brady) asks Liz (Audra McDonald) to conduct a sensitivity read on one of his comedians. This leads to a conversation on comedy and cancel culture. During a discussion between Marissa (Sarah Steele), Jay (Nyambi Nyambi) and Jim (Ifádansi Rashad), Jay says it feels like you now "need a permission slip to tell a joke." So, Jim prints some joke permits. Jay then wonders 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."
"When will people stop doing this!!" one follower wrote. "RESPECT SELENA GOMEZ."
Added another, "So we're usin Selena's kidney transplant as a trend? Multiple times has this happened in media, it needs to stop. #RespectSelenaGomez."
As noted, this isn't the first show to bring up Gomez's kidney transplant, which she received in 2017 amid her battle with lupus. 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." Francia Raisa, who donated one of her kidneys to Gomez, also spoke out about the episode. After receiving backlash, Peacock, UTV and executive producers issued an apology and the scenes were removed.
"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."
Who's the Murderer also received criticism for editing a post-surgery photo of Gomez and Raisa and replacing the stars with two men. According to the BBC, the show said it had the "deepest regret" for its "negligence" and the image was removed.
E! News has reached out to Paramount and Gomez's team for comment but has yet to hear back.