‘Wicked’ Star Marissa Bode Addresses Disability Harassment

Bode, who uses a wheelchair in real life and in the film, portrays the character of Nessarose, the sister of Elphaba, portrayed by Cynthia Erivo. Her character plays a critical role in the musical, which leads into the story of The Wizard of Oz. Bode shared that she has witnessed and read several deplorable and ableist conversations surrounding not only her character, but people with disabilities in general.

Bode clarified that it is quite acceptable to dislike her character and make jokes or memes about Nessa’s questionable decisions. However, she has no acceptance for people who made “aggressive comments and jokes about Nessa’s disability itself” as “disability is not fictional.“ She added, “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.”

Prior to even being cast in the films, Bode, herself, dealt with crude jokes such as, “stand up for yourself.” She explained, “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 confessed that she was scared of speaking out about her unacceptable experiences with others’ harmful rhetoric. “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,”she continued. “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 requested that Wicked fans “listen to the people or to the person that [the joke] is affecting and how it makes them feel,” rather than dismissing a person and “claiming that an experience can’t be true because you personally don’t feel that way about a joke that wouldn’t have affected your demographic.”

“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,” she concluded.