Sarah Palin caught an unexpected stray during Jimmy Kimmel’s Wednesday monologue, when the late night host jokingly suggested the former Alaska governor was transgender while mocking Donald Trump’s talking points on the subject.
During Wednesday’s episode for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” the comedian addressed Trump’s Lubbock, Texas rally speech, in which the president suggested that senate hopeful James Talarico “loves transgender children.”
“These children, if you check it out and see what happens, they take ’em as young children,” Trump added. “And Timmy leaves home and comes back Sarah.”
In response to Trump’s commentary, Kimmel hit back with: “Yeah. Now that is true. That’s what happened to Sarah Palin.”
Kimmel’s studio audience then notably gasped, cheered and laughed at the unexpected dig. Amid the big reaction, the late night host doubled down and quipped: “She was Timmy Palin. The doctors got hold of her and they made her a Sarah. And their parents didn’t even know.”
As Kimmel moved on, he asked the crowd whether anyone actually believed Trump’s anti-transgender rhetoric.
“Does anyone actually believe this? What do you mean?” he said. “If so, please trust me on this. If you drop off Timmy and he comes home, Sarah, you picked up the wrong kid from school. Turn the car around.”
This prompted another big reaction from the audience, who erupted into a round of applause. Kimmel continued to sound off on the president’s comments, suggesting that his remarks were “lies” that had become “ridiculous and relentless.” He also accused Trump of being openly racist while discussing Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at the rally.
After the president repeatedly called El-Sayed “Muhammad” while suggesting he may be a terrorist, Kimmel ripped, “Remember when racism was supposed to be a secret? Like, they’d whisper this stuff in their foursome on the golf course to each other while they were looking around like this. Now it’s your grandpa’s Facebook page live on stage every day.”
Representatives for Palin and the White House did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.
