Inspiring actress Gal Gadot is seen as a real-life Wonder Woman in Hollywood, but fans aren't too happy with her recent tribute to Stephen Hawking.

After Hawking — a famous cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and author, regarded as one of the most brilliant minds in the world — died Wednesday morning, the world mourned his loss on social media.

To honor Hawking, Gadot tweeted a photo of him along with the words, "Rest in peace Dr. Hawking. Now you're free of any physical constraints. Your brilliance and wisdom will be cherished forever."

Gadot's mention of Hawking finally being free from his "physical constraints" came under fire for sounding ableist, or discriminatory against people living with disabilities.

When Hawking was 21 years old he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a motor-neuron disease that eventually required him to use a wheelchair for mobility and a speech synthesizer to communicate.

Several disability rights activists and other Twitter users began to explain why Gadot's words were so problematic, noting that disabilities shouldn't be viewed as life-inhibiting circumstances that people will be "freed of" upon death.

















Though Gadot's tweet gained its fair share of attention, others defended her words, arguing that she meant no harm.

It should also be noted that actress was certainly not the only one to mention Hawking's disability while paying tribute to him, since he spent the majority of his life advocating for people with disabilities. Aside from written tributes, several images of Hawking walking out of his wheelchair, such as the cartoon below, were also shared online.





Though Gadot and many others likely meant no harm with their tributes, there's no denying their words sparked an important discussion on ableism.



