‘It is simply a low-hanging fruit that too many of you are comfortable taking:’ ‘Wicked’ actor calls out ableist fan reactions in the perfect way

So far, the Wicked movie is proving itself the year’s most talked-about blockbuster. Fans have turned up in their thousands to see the big-screen version of the famous Broadway musical. And it’s been the journey of a lifetime for one star, Marissa Bode, who plays the character of Nessarose. Nessarose is always portrayed as a wheelchair user in the show, but never by an actual person who uses a wheelchair… until now. And it was Bode’s first movie role, as well!

Unfortunately, the actions of a few fans have marred Bode’s great experience. The actress took to TikTok on Friday to explain to people that, no, they shouldn’t make jokes about the character being disabled, even if Nessarose becomes a less sympathetic character later on. “It is absolutely okay to not like a fictional character,” Bode said. “I have a lot of different feelings on Nessa than a lot of you do and that’s totally fine.”

But the problem came when people used Bode’s real-life disability to attack the character. “Aggressive comments and jokes about Nessa’s disability itself is deeply uncomfortable, because disability is not fictional,” she explained—and it’s a shame that she had to explain it in the first place. “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 went on to explain that she’d heard ableist jokes all her life. “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,’ etc,” 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.”

Bode said that she was nervous making the video, because she had often seen other disabled people speak out about ableism only to be shouted down. One of the “jokes” she had seen was “vegetable”, which she explained was “a derogatory term, by the way, for disabled people, and a comment that I saw about Nessa.” She went on, “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.”

It was an excellent speech, but it’s such a pity that people have behaved in such as way as to make it necessary. However, Bode has spoken about being inspired by seeing Nessarose on stage in her wheelchair, and now a new generation gets to be inspired by Bode, her performance in a huge blockbuster, and her calm, collected statement on why ableism isn’t okay.