Wicked star Marissa Bode has addressed the online response to her character Nessarose. In a five-and-a-half-minute TikTok posted on Friday, the actress distinguished “goofy, harmless” house jokes from the “deeply uncomfortable” comments she’s been getting about her character’s disability. Bode, who is the first wheelchair user to play Elphaba’s divisive sister, explained that she’s fine with people poking fun at Nessa’s future fate and personality, because that’s all based in fiction. But disability is real. “At the end of the day, me, Marissa, is the person that is still disabled and in a wheelchair,” she said. “And so it is simply a low-hanging fruit that too many of you are comfortable taking.” She added that when non-disabled strangers make jokes where the punchline is about not being able to walk — using phrases like “stand up for yourself” or “I guess you can’t stand him,” for example — it feels like “laughing at rather than laughing with.”
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Bode pointed out that “aggressive” comments about wanting to push Nessa out of her wheelchair or saying that she deserves her disability are “very gross and harmful” things that she and other disabled people have heard in real life. She’s also seen disabled creators have to take breaks from the internet after being “flooded with ableist comments,” then told that they’re complaining or asking for too much if they speak up. While Bode said that jokes about disability “made out of ignorance” don’t affect her as much as they once would have, she’s worried about the people who might still be harmed by them today. “One of the major themes within Wicked is having the ability to listen and to understand one another,” she said. “And I truly hope that is something a lot of you can practice more and take with you.”
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In her TikTok caption, Bode encouraged people to “dissect and unlearn” their ableism, follow more disabled people, and learn about the disability rights movement. “I understand no one likes feeling like they’re being scolded,” she wrote. “But true progress never comes with comfort. And that’s ok.” Oz willing, she won’t feel the need to repeat herself