As Wicked continues to fuel an online storm of memes, one cast member is drawing a line in regards to ableist comments.
Marissa Bode, who stars in the Jon M. Chu-helmed adaptation of the Broadway musical as wheelchair-bound Nessarose Thropp, called out recent jokes about the character that have made her feel “deeply uncomfortable” as someone who is also disabled.
“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,” started Bode in a five-minute TikTok video.
The actress explained that she’s not bothered by criticism of Nessa as a complicated character who makes questionable decisions. “That’s the beauty of art and Wicked — 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,” she said. “And not liking Nessa herself is okay, because she is fictional. That’s totally fine.”
In the movie musical, Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) younger sister Nessarose is a paraplegic, who later becomes the Wicked Witch of the East, ruler of Munchkinland. Glinda (Ariana Grande) ultimately enchants Nessa’s silver shoes to give her the ability to walk.
“Aggressive comments and jokes about Nessa’s disability itself is deeply uncomfortable, because disability is not fictional,” said Bode. “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.”
She added, “The most frustrating part about all of this is how scared I am to even post/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 avoid 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 really gross and harmful comments that real disabled people, including myself, have heard before.
Bode also explained she’s “scared” by the comments, noting, “I have seen firsthand what has happened to my disabled peers who are outspoken online when it comes to calling out ableism and why jokes of standing and being a vegetable — which is a derogatory term, by the way, for disabled people, and a comment that I saw about Nessa — 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 too much, and to stop complaining, to the point where some of my disabled peers, these disabled creators, have needed to take a break online for their own mental well-being. To state the obvious, that’s not good.
Marissa Bode and Cynthia Erivo in Wicked (2024). (Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Bode concluded, “Please be kind. And lastly, I want to say one of the major themes within Wicked is having the ability to listen and understand one another, and I truly hope that is something a lot of you can practice more and take with you. Thank you.”