diff --git a/modules/ve-mw/ce/nodes/ve.ce.MWTransclusionNode.js b/modules/ve-mw/ce/nodes/ve.ce.MWTransclusionNode.js
index 0cece3a6ce..4f7f02f81f 100644
--- a/modules/ve-mw/ce/nodes/ve.ce.MWTransclusionNode.js
+++ b/modules/ve-mw/ce/nodes/ve.ce.MWTransclusionNode.js
@@ -102,7 +102,8 @@ ve.ce.MWTransclusionNode.prototype.onParseSuccess = function ( deferred, respons
 		return this.onParseError.call( this, deferred );
 	}
 
-	contentNodes = $.parseHTML( response.visualeditor.content, this.getModelHtmlDocument() );
+	// Work around https://github.com/jquery/jquery/issues/1997
+	contentNodes = $.parseHTML( response.visualeditor.content, this.getModelHtmlDocument() ) || [];
 	// HACK: if $content consists of a single paragraph, unwrap it.
 	// We have to do this because the PHP parser wraps everything in <p>s, and inline templates
 	// will render strangely when wrapped in <p>s.