diff --git a/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb b/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
index f2cab2840d4da5162169ff77fb4a8cbfc8171c23..803578f191193a087c94fcde9d50a0e5aacd5e1b 100644
--- a/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/gitlab_markdown_helper.rb
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ module GitlabMarkdownHelper
   end
 
   def markdown(text, context = {})
+    return unless text.present?
+
     context.merge!(
       path:         @path,
       project:      @project,
@@ -59,6 +61,8 @@ module GitlabMarkdownHelper
   # TODO (rspeicher): Remove all usages of this helper and just call `markdown`
   # with a custom pipeline depending on the content being rendered
   def gfm(text, options = {})
+    return unless text.present?
+
     options.merge!(
       path:         @path,
       project:      @project,
diff --git a/app/views/events/_event_issue.atom.haml b/app/views/events/_event_issue.atom.haml
index 4259f64c19102a11f7543903e53ce20e1ec6ef9f..4e8d70e4e9d80136258684a121c8c4caffd6fa14 100644
--- a/app/views/events/_event_issue.atom.haml
+++ b/app/views/events/_event_issue.atom.haml
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
 %div{xmlns: "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"}
-  - if issue.description.present?
-    = markdown(issue.description, xhtml: true, reference_only_path: false, project: issue.project)
+  = markdown(issue.description, xhtml: true, reference_only_path: false, project: issue.project)
diff --git a/app/views/events/_event_merge_request.atom.haml b/app/views/events/_event_merge_request.atom.haml
index e8ed13df783952f4a0b10d3ecd73b86c915eabab..db2b3550c499449c60200cc319f735bd72e5c5ef 100644
--- a/app/views/events/_event_merge_request.atom.haml
+++ b/app/views/events/_event_merge_request.atom.haml
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
 %div{xmlns: "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"}
-  - if merge_request.description.present?
-    = markdown(merge_request.description, xhtml: true, reference_only_path: false, project: merge_request.project)
+  = markdown(merge_request.description, xhtml: true, reference_only_path: false, project: merge_request.project)