Wicked Star Says Gross And Harmful Jokes About Her Character Are Ableist

LOADINGERROR LOADING“Wicked” actor Marissa Bode is shutting down the “very gross and harmful” jokes about her character’s disability following the release of the Jon M.Chu musical movie adaptation.

Bode, who uses a wheelchair in real life, plays Nessarose, a paraplegic and the sister to Cynthia Erivo’s Elphaba, in the film, which was released on Nov.22.

Advertisement “There’s something that’s made me a bit uncomfortable, and as somebody who’s disabled with a platform, I just wanted to talk about it really quick,” the actor began in a five-minute TikTok video posted on Friday.She then told her 69,000-plus followers that it “is absolutely OK to not like a fictional character,” before going on to say that she found the “aggressive comments and jokes about Nessa’s disability itself” to be “deeply uncomfortable because disability is not fictional.”“When these jokes are being made by nondisabled strangers with a punchline of not being able to walk, it very much feels like laughing at rather than laughing with,” she said, adding, “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.”Bode also called the damaging ableist comments “low-hanging fruit” that “too many” people are “comfortable taking.” Advertisement The Wisconsin-born actor admitted that she was fearful of speaking up about her concerns because of what “has happened to my disabled peers who are outspoken online when it comes to calling out ableism.”Still, she urged “Wicked” fans to be more mindful when addressing her and other disabled people.

“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 ...