‘Wicked’ Star Marissa Bode Calls Out ‘Gross And Harmful’ Ableist Comments About Her Character

“Wicked” actor Marissa Bode is shutting down the “very gross and harmful” jokes about her character’s disability following the release of the Jon M. Chu musical movie adaptation.

Bode, who uses a wheelchair in real life, plays Nessarose, a paraplegic and the sister to Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, in the film, which was released on Nov. 22.

“There’s something that’s made me a bit uncomfortable, and as somebody who’s disabled with a platform, I just wanted to talk about it really quick,” the actor began in a five-minute TikTok video posted on Friday.

She then told her 69,000-plus followers that it “is absolutely OK to not like a fictional character,” before going on to say that she found the “aggressive comments and jokes about Nessa’s disability itself” to be “deeply uncomfortable because disability is not fictional.”

“When these jokes are being made by nondisabled strangers with a punchline of not being able to walk, it very much feels like laughing at rather than laughing with,” she said, adding, “Aggressive comments of wanting to cause harm and ‘push Nessa out of her wheelchair’ or that she ‘deserves her disability’ are two very gross and harmful comments that real disabled people, including myself, have heard before.”

Bode also called the damaging ableist comments “low-hanging fruit” that “too many” people are “comfortable taking.”

The Wisconsin-born actor admitted that she was fearful of speaking up about her concerns because of what “has happened to my disabled peers who are outspoken online when it comes to calling out ableism.”

Still, she urged “Wicked” fans to be more mindful when addressing her and other disabled people.

“Rather than dismissing one another and claiming an experience can’t be true because you personally don’t feel that way about a joke that wouldn’t have affected your demographic anyways, listen to the people or to the person that it is affecting and how it makes them feel,” Bode said.

Wrapping up her message, she said she recognizes that the “jokes about disability are made out of ignorance” and encouraged people to “please be kind.”

“Lastly, I want to say one of the major themes within ‘Wicked’ is having the ability to listen and to understand one another, and I truly hope that is something a lot of you can practice more and take with you. Thank you,” she said.

TikTok users in the video’s comments section praised Bode for speaking up.

“The internet has a very bad habit of taking things TOO far!! Everything you said was very well said,” one person wrote.

Someone else commented, “THANK YOU!!! I keep seeing those jokes and as someone in a wheelchair it makes me so uncomfy. Thank you for being so vocal on this! much love to you girl.”

Watch Bode’s video below.