diff --git a/mediagoblin/util.py b/mediagoblin/util.py
index 0e43a1f5..e964324f 100644
--- a/mediagoblin/util.py
+++ b/mediagoblin/util.py
@@ -383,6 +383,11 @@ def cleaned_markdown_conversion(text):
     """
     Take a block of text, run it through MarkDown, and clean its HTML.
     """
+    # Markdown will do nothing with and clean_html can do nothing with
+    # an empty string :)
+    if not text:
+        return u''
+
     return clean_html(MARKDOWN_INSTANCE.convert(text))