Wicked star Marissa Bode is urging fans to think before making “jokes” about her character’s disability.
Marissa is the first actor who uses a wheelchair to ever play the character of Nessarose in any iteration of the hit musical.
In a TikTok shared over the weekend, the American performer said she’d “loved seeing people’s reactions” and “all the love” for the movie adaptation of Wicked, but felt as “somebody who’s disabled with a platform” there was a subject she wanted to address.
She began: “It is absolutely OK to not like a fictional character. 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, [and not just black and white, she 100% could be a better sister but I don’t feel (at least for now) that she’s an intentional villain). But that’s the beauty of art and Wicked.”
And while Marissa insisted she’s a “deeply unserious person” who loves “a little jokey joke”, she claimed that some fans had crossed a line in the past week.
“Aggressive comments and ‘jokes’ about Nessa’s disability itself [are] deeply uncomfortable, because disability is not fictional” Marissa explained, claiming she’d removed most of the remarks in question from her TikTok.
“At the end of the day, [I], Marissa, [am] 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.”
Marissa said that she’d been the subject of jokes from “non-disabled strangers” about not being able to walk even before being cast in Wicked.
“It very much feels like laughing at rather than laughing with,” she said, admitting she was even “shaking a little bit”, addressing the topic publicly.
“The most frustrating part of all of this is how scared I am to even post [or] talk about this – which is also the bigger reason as to why I’m making this video in the first place.
“This goes so far beyond me, Marissa, just needing to ignore comments on the internet. These comments do not exist in a vacuum. Aggressive comets 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.
“I am scared, also, because I have seen firsthand what has happened to my disabled peers who are outspoken online when it comes to calling out ableism.”
She continued: “These disabled creators’ comments are flooded with ableist comments. When speaking on ableism, they’re told to just take a joke, and that they’re asking for too much, and to stop complaining to the point where some of my disabled peers have needed to take a break online for their own mental well-being.
“To state the obvious, that’s not good.”
Marissa added: “Thankfully, I’m at a place in my life where I can recognise these jokes about disability are made out of ignorance.
“I can’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.”
“And lastly,” she concluded. “I want to say that one of the major themes within Wicked is having the ability to listen and to understand one another.
“I truly hope that is something a lot of you can practise more and take with you.”
Marissa told Variety in September: “I think feeling less alone can help propel other disabled people to take action and feel like they can speak out about issues regarding accessibility and ableism that are unfortunately still prevalent in society today
“Representation is just the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to disability rights and the disability movement as a whole.”
Wicked is in cinemas now.