In the words of Selena Gomez: "Kill Em With Kindness."
The Rare Beauty founder is doing just that with her latest statement. Selena, who has been an open book about her health, took to social media to address an episode of Paramount+'s The Good Fight, which referenced the 2017 kidney transplant she received due to her battle with Lupus.
"I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing but sadly it has apparently," the pop star captioned her Twitter and Instagram Story on Tuesday, Aug. 3. "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."
The "Adiós" singer also thanked her devoted fans, especially after they fiercely defended her from The Good Fight's mention of her health struggles.
"My fans always have my back. LOVE YOU," she concluded.
During episode four of the fifth season, a comedy streaming executive Del (Wayne Brady) asks Liz (Audra McDonald) to put together a sensitivity read for one of his comedians. The conversation eventually leads to a discussion about comedy and cancel culture between Marissa (Sarah Steele), Jay (Nyambi Nyambi) and Jim (Ifádansi Rashad).
Jay tells the group that you now "need a permission slip to tell a joke," which prompts him to figure out if any topics are off-limits.
"Um, necrophilia?" Jim asks, with Marissa responding, "No, that could be funny."
"Autism," Jay suggests and adds, "Selena Gomez's kidney transplant."
The show's dialogue didn't sit right with Selenators, who called out the network and series on social media. However, a source close to The Good Fight told E! News the scene was misconstrued.
"If you watch the episode in full," the insider explained, "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."
Despite The Good Fight's intentions, they aren't the first show to reference Selena's kidney transplant.
In November 2020, the Saved by the Bell reboot received backlash for its scenes depicting students gossiping about who donated the kidney to the "Rare" singer. Additionally, there was graffiti in the background that read "Does Selena Gomez Even Have A Kidney."
After coming under fire, Peacock, UTV and the executive producers of the reboot issued an apology and removed the scenes from the series.
"We apologize," a statement read at the time. "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."
Francia Raisa, who donated one of her kidneys to Selena, spoke out about the episode, revealing that several cast members and producers had privately reached out to her to apologize.
At the time, Selena didn't publicly address Saved By the Bell's controversy.
E! News previously reached out to Paramount and the star's team for comment.