Wicked Star Marissa Bode Called Out Ableist Takes On Nessarose

While the movie adaptation of Wicked is getting rave reviews from audiences, many fans aren’t being so kind to one of its stars. Marissa Bode, who plays Nessarose Thropp, says she’s received numerous comments on social media that make her “deeply uncomfortable.” On Nov. 29, she posted a lengthy TikTok calling out the “aggressive” and ableist reactions she has seen and urged fans to reflect.

Both Bode and Nessarose are wheelchair users, and the actor called out digs about her or her character’s disability. In Bode’s nearly-five-and-a-half-minute TikTok, she explained that she knows Nessa is a divisive character and she has no problem with people wanting to criticize her actions or her personality. Going after her disability, on the other hand, is hurtful.

“Aggressive comments and ‘jokes’ about Nessa’s disability itself [are] deeply uncomfortable because disability is not fictional,” she 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.”

Explaining further, she added, “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 instead of laughing with.”

“These comments do not exist in a vacuum,” she continued. “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.”

For Bode, it was important to speak out because she “worried that a younger version of myself is somewhere on the internet and is harmed by these comments.” Still, she shared it is very scary to do so. “I’m literally shaking a little bit,” she said, before going on to explain that she has seen disabled peers and content creators bullied off the internet when they call out ableism.

“Rather than dismissing one another and 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, listen to the people or to the person that it is affecting and how it makes them feel,” she said.

To conclude, Bode asked her followers to “be kind,” and pointed to a lesson from the movie: “One of the major themes within Wicked is having the ability to listen and to understand one another, and I truly hope that is something a lot of you can practice more and take with you.”

Making An Impact As Nessarose

Bode is the first wheelchair user to play Nessarose, and director John M. Chu recently told USA Today that finding her “was a godsend.” “We wanted someone who understood what it felt like to use a wheelchair, and who could embody Nessa in a way that was youthful and fresh,” he said. “Her dancing was amazing, and she worked with us on how to design her wheelchair as a piece of her body, and not just a thing you put her in.”

In September, Bode spoke to Variety about representation and how it can lead to bigger changes. “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,” she said. “Representation is just the very tip of the iceberg when it comes to disability rights and the disability movement as a whole.”

Her TikTok’s caption built on this, saying in part, “Representation is important but that’s not the only thing that will save the disabled community. I need a lot of y’all (non-disabled people) to do the work. To dissect and unlearn your own ableism.”