Former Disney star Selena Gomez has talked publicly about her ongoing battle with lupus, which resulted in her needing a kidney transplantin 2017. Her diagnosis has forced her to deal with an onslaught of criticisms about her weight and rumors that she’s pregnant as she battles the chronic illness.
‘The Good Fight’ made a reference to Selena Gomez’s 2017 kidney transplant.
In a recent episode of the Paramount Plus show, The Good Fight characters spent time workshopping jokes they plan to present to a TV exec. Jay, at one point, says comedians “need a permission slip to tell a joke,” prompting them to talk about topics that are off-limits. This includes “necrophilia, autism, and Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant,” according to Variety.
Selena didn’t take lightly to this reference and tweeted her displeasure for the take.
“I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing but sadly it has apparently,” she wrote. “I hope in the next writers room when one of these tasteless jokes are presented it’s called out immediately and doesn’t make it on air.”
A source who reportedly works closely with the show later attempted to clarify the line to Variety, noting that it was not a jestful joke about her transplant.“If you watch the episode in full, the reference to Selena 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 canceled for telling a bad joke,” the source reportedly said. “The reference is that Selena Gomez’s transplant is not something you can joke about.”