Those "jokes" aren't just about a disabled character — they're about real disabled people.
Wicked star Marissa Bode is reminding audiences that their comments about her character, Nessarose, being in a wheelchair aren't as cute as they think. The out actor and Out100 honoree, who herself uses a wheelchair, said in a recent TikTok video that while "it is absolutely OK to not like a fictional character,” making fun of her disability won't fly.
“Disability is not fictional,” Bode said. “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.”
“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,’ et cetera,” she continued. “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.”
Bode is the first wheelchair user to portray Nessarose, the sister of Wicked lead Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), despite the character always being written to use a wheelchair. The actor said that the comments she's been hearing "do not exist in a vacuum" and go "so far beyond me, Marissa, just needing to ignore comments on the internet," as they could affect other wheelchair users.
"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 said. "Thankfully, I’m at a place in my life today where I can recognize 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.”
To those who claim the comments are "just jokes," Bode emphasized the importance of listening to others and not “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.”
“One of the major themes within Wicked is having the ability to listen and to understand one another," she concluded. "And I truly hope that is something a lot of you can practice more and take with you.”
