Wicked Star Marissa Bode has condemned “aggressive and “very gross” comments about her character’s disability, describing it as “low hanging fruit”.
Bode posted on social media that is disgusted by negative comments and jokes about her character Nessarose’s disability, calling them “aggressive,” “very gross” and “harmful”.
In a five-minute video posted on TikTok on Friday, Bode — who uses a wheelchair on screen and in real life — shared her thoughts on the insensitive comments which have circulating online about Nessarose, the younger sister of Elphaba, in the hit cinematic adaptation of the theatrical blockbuster.
“It is absolutely OK to not like a fictional character,” Bode said. “I am going to be admitting my bias in the way that I have a lot of different feelings on Nessa than a lot of you do, and that’s totally fine.
“I think Nessa is complex, but that’s the beauty of art. Wicked and these characters and the movie wouldn’t be what it was if there weren’t different opinions on the characters and who’s truly wicked or not.
“And not liking Nessa herself is OK. Because she is fictional, that’s totally fine.”
Bode acknowledged that she is a “deeply unserious person,” who doesn’t mind “silly, goofy, harmless” jokes regarding Nessarose’s personality or actions — reiterating that’s because the Wicked character is fictional.
However, she does not condone “aggressive” comments and jokes about Nessarose’s disability, adding that they’re “deeply uncomfortable”.
“Disability is not fictional,” Bode continued. “At the end of the day, me, Marissa, is the person that is still disabled and in a wheelchair. And so, it is simply a low-hanging fruit that too many of you are comfortable taking.”
Bode noted that she’s heard many ableist jokes not only about Nessarose, but about herself.
“Before even being cast in Wicked, I had received comments — just as me, as Marissa, not Nessa — around the words of ‘stand up for yourself’, ‘I guess you can’t stand him,’ etcetera,” she said. “These comments aren’t original, and when these jokes are being made by non-disabled strangers with a punchline of not being able to walk, it very much feels like laughing at rather than laughing with.”
She added: “This goes so far beyond me, Marissa, just needing to ignore comments on the internet. These comments do not exist in a vacuum. 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 urged Wicked viewers to stop dismissing each other 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”.
She continued: “Listen to the people or to the person that it is affecting and how it makes them feel. Thankfully, I’m at a place in my life today where I can recognise these jokes about disability are made out of ignorance. I couldn’t say the same about Marissa 10 years ago, and it would have affected younger me a lot more, and I’m worried that a younger version of myself is somewhere on the internet and is harmed by these comments.”
Bode concluded the video by saying: “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.”
Bode is the first wheelchair user in Wicked’s history to play Nessarose. In an interview with Variety, the actor spoke about adding more dimension to the character through the film adaptation’s two-part structure.
Wicked: Part Two arrives on the big screen on November 21, next year.
“Obviously, it’s a beautiful musical and I love the stage musical, but you don’t really get to see little moments in the bond between the two sisters very much, or just their love for one another. You get to see that more in the film,” she said.
“And I think that’s really important, because it makes what happens in the second film all the more devastating. It humanises Nessa as a character, and shows how much she cares about people. I think it was a great decision.”
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