diff --git a/app/models/topic_embed.rb b/app/models/topic_embed.rb
index 294f86ff2..fa8008703 100644
--- a/app/models/topic_embed.rb
+++ b/app/models/topic_embed.rb
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ class TopicEmbed < ActiveRecord::Base
     if SiteSetting.embed_truncate
       contents = first_paragraph_from(contents)
     end
+    contents ||= ''
     contents << imported_from_html(url)
 
     url = normalize_url(url)