Selena Gomez Hits Back at a Fan Who Says She Drinks ‘Excessively’ Despite Kidney Transplant

Selena Gomez is defending herself after a fan criticized a joke she made on TikTok. 

In the joke, Dr. Dawn Bantel, an Arizona-based naturopathic doctor, relays the definition of “heavy drinking” next to a video of Gomez reacting. “The [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] defines heavy drinking as 15 or more drinks a week for men and eight or more drinks per week for women,” Bantel says as Gomez bites her nails and mouths “Oh,” feigning nervousness (jokingly implying that she drinks more than that).  Despite the fact Gomez literally captioned the video, “It’s a joke,” she still received criticism. 

Per People, the Gomez Source fan Twitter account shared a screenshot of a comment in which someone says, “So one of your best friends gives you her kidney and you continue to drink excessively? Damn, Selena.”

Gomez’s reply? “It was a joke, ass.” Simple but to the point. And most importantly: true. 

You can watch the TikTok that started it all, below:

Selena Gomez received a kidney transplant in 2017 from her best friend, Francia Raisa, which she needed as a result of complications from lupus.

“I found out I needed to get a kidney transplant due to my lupus and was recovering,” Gomez wrote on Instagram in 2017. “It was what I needed to do for my overall health.” Gomez has been public about her battle with lupus, a disease that causes the body’s immune system to attack its own organs and tissues, since being diagnosed in 2014 and undergoing chemotherapy to treat it in 2015.

“My kidneys were just done,” Gomez told TODAY in October 2017, according to People. “That was it, and I didn’t want to ask a single person in my life. The thought of asking someone to do that was really difficult for me. She volunteered and did it. And let alone someone wanting to volunteer, it is incredibly difficult to find a match. The fact that she was a match, I mean, that’s unbelievable. That’s not real.”