Photo: Sina Weibo

The sixth episode of Chinese variety show Who's the Murderer issued an apology on Thursday for editing the photo of US stars Selena Gomez and Francia Raisa taken post-kidney transplant surgery after the photo irritated Chinese fans who said the show was "out of the line."  

According to snapshots that have gone viral on Sina Weibo, the show photoshopped the faces of two Chinese guests appearing on the show onto Gomez and Raisa's faces in the surgery photo. The two guests also offended fans by using a pun that included the word "kidney" to make a joke.

Hashtags "Selena's fans condemn Who's the Murderer for photograph" and "Who's the Murderer issues an apology" that are trending on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo, earning 230 million and 210 million views respectively as of Thursday.

"We expressed our deepest regret for hurting the people involved and those who care for the US stars due to our negligence in the production of show props," read the statement, going on to add that the show has removed the related content.

The apology came after Gomez's Chinese fan club posted a long condemnation of the production team of Who's the Murderer on Wednesday night, criticizing the show for editing their idol's photo for entertainment purposes, which they said was rude to the stars and organ donors and patients.

"Selena's original intention of publishing photos of her surgery to the public was to let fans understand her experience during the surgery and to draw attention to the disease of lupus. But now the show is editing the photo for entertainment. This is out of line," the fan club posted on Sina Weibo in a post that received a hundredthousand likes. 

Who's the Murderer is a hit variety show that sees celebrities play a role of various characters as they try to solve a murder mystery. It is a licensed Chinese version of the South Korean program Crime Scene that has been adapted for local audiences.

Global Times