diff --git a/Tusker/Views/ContentTextView.swift b/Tusker/Views/ContentTextView.swift
index 3cef26e471..2019f08e1f 100644
--- a/Tusker/Views/ContentTextView.swift
+++ b/Tusker/Views/ContentTextView.swift
@@ -109,10 +109,20 @@ class ContentTextView: LinkTextView, BaseEmojiLabel {
             case "p":
                 attributed.append(NSAttributedString(string: "\n\n"))
             case "em", "i":
-                let currentFont: UIFont = attributed.attribute(.font, at: 0, effectiveRange: nil) as? UIFont ?? self.font!
+                let currentFont: UIFont
+                if attributed.length == 0 {
+                    currentFont = defaultFont
+                } else {
+                    currentFont = attributed.attribute(.font, at: 0, effectiveRange: nil) as? UIFont ?? defaultFont
+                }
                 attributed.addAttribute(.font, value: currentFont.withTraits(.traitItalic)!, range: attributed.fullRange)
             case "strong", "b":
-                let currentFont: UIFont = attributed.attribute(.font, at: 0, effectiveRange: nil) as? UIFont ?? self.font!
+                let currentFont: UIFont
+                if attributed.length == 0 {
+                    currentFont = defaultFont
+                } else {
+                    currentFont = attributed.attribute(.font, at: 0, effectiveRange: nil) as? UIFont ?? defaultFont
+                }
                 attributed.addAttribute(.font, value: currentFont.withTraits(.traitBold)!, range: attributed.fullRange)
             case "del":
                 attributed.addAttribute(.strikethroughStyle, value: NSUnderlineStyle.single.rawValue, range: attributed.fullRange)