Ashley Tisdale defends Selena Gomez after kidney transplant joke in The Good Fight

The ‘High School Musical’ star has come to defence of her former Disney co-star Selena Gomez after ‘tasteless’ mention on ‘The Good Fight’

Ashley Tisdale with Selena Gomez in 2013 (Getty Images)

Actor Ashley Tisdale has defended Selana Gomez after a joke was made at her expense on TV series The Good Fight.

In the latest episode of the Paramount+ original, the show referenced the kidney transplant the pop star underwent in 2017.

In the episode, which aired on 15 July, characters Marisa (Sarah Steele), Jay (Nyambi Nyambi) and Jim ( Ifadansi Rashad) are talking about comedy and cancel culture when taboo topics are listed off. The trio mention “autism,” “necrophilia” and “Selena Gomez’s kidney transplant”.

“Do you think we could be cancelled for even joking about being cancelled?” asks Steele in the clip.

Gomez first responded in a tweet on 3 August: “I am not sure how writing jokes about organ transplants for television shows has become a thing but sadly it has apparently. 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.”

Tisdale has since mentioned the show’s writers in an Instagram story on Wednesday 4 August, telling them to “go back to school to come up with something clever and actually funny”.

Tisdale explained: "It’s sad to me that when a celebrity decides to share their story, especially difficulties with their health, writers have decided to turn that into a joke in multiple shows?!”

“It takes courage to come out and let people in to what you are personally going through. And in turn your [sic] making that persons journey into a joke.”