Marissa Bode is addressing the derogatory comments made about her “Wicked” character.
Bode, who portrays the character Nessarose, the younger sister of Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, posted a five-minute long video to her TikTok slamming the slew of negative comments she’s received since the film premiered on Nov. 22.
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Despite enjoying seeing the outpouring of the love for the movie, Bode said there were reactions that made her feel “a bit uncomfortable.”
In the video, Bode, who uses a wheelchair in real life and on screen, acknowledged that she is biased when it comes to her feelings about her own character. She said it was "totally fine" to make jokes about Nessarose’s actions or personality because she is a fictional character.
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But, Bode explained, she was not okay with “aggressive comments and jokes about Nessa’s disability,” calling the messages “deeply uncomfortable because disability is not fictional.”
“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 continued, noting that in addition to her character, she's heard ableist jokes about herself. “Before even being cast in ‘Wicked,’ I had received comments just as me, Marissa, not Nessa, around the words of ‘Stand up for yourself,’ ‘I guess you can’t stand him,’ etc.”
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“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,” she added.
Bode said the most frustrating part about acknowledging such comments was how scared she was to voice her opinion.
“These comments do not exist in a vacuum,” she said. “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.”
@marissa_edob 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. Listen to disabled people. Follow other disabled people outside of just me. Read up on the disability rights movement/watch the documentary Crip Camp! I understand no one likes feeling like they’re being scolded. But true progress never comes with comfort. And that’s ok. #wicked #nessa ♬ original sound - Marissa
The actor noted that she has seen the repercussions that her peers have experienced when they have called out ableism.
“These disabled creators’ comments are flooded with ableist comments,” she explained. “When speaking on ableism, they’re told to just take a joke and that they’re asking for too much, and to stop complaining, to the point where some of my disabled peers have needed to take a break online for their own mental well being.”
Bode then implored those listening not to dismiss the feelings of others, but rather “listen to the people or to the person that it is affecting and how it makes them feel.”
“Thankfully, I’m at a place in my life today where I can recognize these jokes about disability are made out of ignorance,” she said. “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.”
She concluded her message with a lesson she learned from “Wicked,” adding, “Lastly, I want to say 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.”
Bode made her feature film debut in the John M. Chu directed movie. The actor, who hails from Wisconsin, performed in plays in middle school and high school before she attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles in order to study acting.
Before landing the role of Nessarose, she worked as an after-school art teacher and mentor, telling TODAY.com that she felt “beyond privileged and lucky” to be cast in “Wicked” one year after she graduated from college. (Universal Pictures is owned by TODAY.com’s parent company, NBCUniversal.)
“When you’re not represented a lot and you don’t see yourself, you still have — or at least I did have — a little bit of, ‘I know what I’m capable of. I know that I can act. I know other disabled talent that can act and can model,’” she explained. “But how much of the industry is willing to go for that and is willing to seek out disabled people and willing to listen? That was the one thing that I definitely bumped into.”
Bode is the first-ever physically disabled actor to take on the role of Nessarose, sharing that she was “over the moon” about the casting decision.
She explained, “It’s not something I saw a lot of when I was growing up, and if I did, it was like for one special episode and you never saw the character again.”
This article originally appeared on Today.com. Read more from Today:
