Wicked's Marissa Bode calls out Met Gala for lack of disability inclusivity

9 May 2025, 15:53

Wicked's Marissa Bode has urged the Met Gala to be more inclusive for people with disabilities. Picture: @marissa_edob via TikTok, Sipa US/Alamy Live News

By Katie Louise Smith

"We belong in fashion!"

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Wicked's Marissa Bode, who plays Nessarose, has taken to social media to call out the lack of disability inclusivity at the Met Gala, as well as the wider fashion industry.

With the release of Wicked, Marissa made history as the first actress who uses a wheelchair to portray Elphaba's younger sister. (Cesily Collette Taylor, who plays younger Nessarose, is also a wheelchair user.)

And since it came out, she has used her platform to call for more representation and inclusivity for actors with disabilities across the industry. Marissa has also called out ableist jokes about her character.

Off the back of the film's success and Marissa's red carpet appearances during promo, many fans were expecting (and hoping) to see the star appear on the Met Gala red carpet alongside Cynthia Erivo, who also attended. But she sadly didn't.

Now, Marissa has posted a video urging the Met Gala and the industry at large to do more for non-able bodied people.

Wicked star Marissa Bode has used her platform to call for better representation for disabled people. Picture: Getty

In the first video posted on her TikTok, Marissa said: "Happy Met Gala day! What am I hoping to see at the Met Gala? Disabled people. This is another year of me once again asking where are all the disabled people?

"Stairs should not just be a full aesthetic. Be inclusive. Where are the disabled people? That's my thought, goodbye!"

In the caption, she wrote: "Disabled people of all sorts should be invited. Invite more than one of us! We’re more than just something to be scratched off a diversity checklist. We belong in fashion!"

"Sorry one more thing about the Met Gala, but also the fashion industry, acting industry as a whole. Disabled people have been screaming for years, for years, to be included," she added in a lengthy follow-up.

"Not just, 'Oh, you can book this one special diversity shoot, oh you can be a part of this one special episode'," she continued. "I mean included included, regularly, more than the one and only disabled person being included in something hire multiple of us because we do often exist in the same spaces in real life together.

"And while none of us need some saviour to come and rescue us per se, all we want is to be heard and listened to and included."

Marissa went on to urge people to start questioning things in their everyday life in order to make spaces more accessible and to "[fight] alongside disabled people." She also extended that to people in the industry, too.

"If you're in the industry and have the means to do so, 'Hey, why aren't there other disabled people at the Met and who can I talk to to help that happen?" she said. "Why aren't there a ton of disabled people in the entertainment industry as a whole? Who can I talk to to make that happen?'"

"Because disabled people have been screaming from the rooftops forever because again no one else seems to. I am begging others and non-disabled people to uplift those voices and question those within your spaces. And more people within power to step it up.

"If y'all are truly allies then do the work. Help us all get there because we cannot do this on our own."