NBC has issued an apology to Selena Gomez and has plannedĀ a donation to her lupus charity, but Francia RaĆsa has called on the show to do better and acknowledge the kidney donors who were hurt by the joke as well. RaĆsa – an actress, friend of Selena Gomez, and Gomezās actual kidney donor – spoke out about how Saved by the Bellās joke was offensive to kidney donors by erasing them from the narrative. RaĆsa is right; the show makes as much of a joke of kidney donorsĀ (herself included) as it does of Selena Gomez.
As with most āharmlessā jokes, theĀ intent was notĀ to hurt Gomez, RaĆsa, or kidney donors, but the truth is that it did – and that matters more than what the showrunners intended. It was a cheap, throwaway gag at the expense of a real person and her real trauma that could have easily been left out or replaced. Instead, the joke was included without considering the consequences and that’sĀ something the show will have to reckon with in any future seasons. But if the Saved by the Bell revival writers had only looked to its predecessor, they might have recognized how the show chose to lean toward sensitivity – even when making a joke.
Originally from https://screenrant.com/saved-bell-revival-selena-gomez-controversy-betrayal/