Jimmy Kimmel says it’s ‘rich’ of Sarah Palin to encourage mask use after flouting Covid restrictions

‘I love these people who only believe in science when it happens to them,’ Kimmel said of politician’s recent diagnosis

Jimmy Kimmel took aim at “old lipstick on a pitbull herself” Sarah Palin after the US politician contracted coronavirus.

On Thursday (1 April), the former Republican vice presidential nominee revealed that she had tested positive for Covid-19 along with her 12-year-old son.

Urging people to wear masks, Palin said: “As confident as I’d like to be about my own health, and despite my joking that I’m blessed to constantly breathe in the most sterile (frozen!) air, my case is perhaps one of those that proves anyone can catch this.”

Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday, Kimmel said that it was “rich” that Palin was now encouraging mask use after previously flouting restrictions in place to stop the spread of the virus.

“How [she contracted Covid], she doesn’t know,” he said. “Sarah Palin lives in Alaska. You almost have to try to catch Covid in Alaska. It’s easier to catch a bald eagle than Covid in Alaska.”

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Back in May 2020, Palin travelled “all the way to Texas” to support a beauty salon whose owner was jailed for violating shutdown, Kimmel pointed out.

“But now that Sarah has herself been bitten by the bug, she changed her tune,” he said.

“I love these people who only believe in science when it happens to them. They only acknowledge that Covid is real after they get [it]. It’s like saying, ‘Now that I have been mauled by a bear personally, I realise that their claws and teeth are very sharp.’”

Palin has encouraged people to “use common sense”, after many Republicans pushed back against wearing masks throughout the pandemic, which has now killed more than 550,000 people in the US.