diff --git a/lib/topic_query.rb b/lib/topic_query.rb
index 01952bd5991..6fdf2280d4f 100644
--- a/lib/topic_query.rb
+++ b/lib/topic_query.rb
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class TopicQuery
       end
 
       array_int = lambda do |x|
-        Array === x && x.length > 0 && x.all? { |i| Integer === i }
+        Array === x && x.length > 0 && x.all? { |i| Integer === i || i.match?(/^-?[0-9]+$/) }
       end
 
       {
@@ -656,7 +656,7 @@ class TopicQuery
     result = apply_shared_drafts(result, category_id, options)
 
     if options[:exclude_category_ids] && options[:exclude_category_ids].is_a?(Array) && options[:exclude_category_ids].size > 0
-      result = result.where("categories.id NOT IN (?)", options[:exclude_category_ids]).references(:categories)
+      result = result.where("categories.id NOT IN (?)", options[:exclude_category_ids].map(&:to_i)).references(:categories)
     end
 
     # Don't include the category topics if excluded
diff --git a/spec/requests/list_controller_spec.rb b/spec/requests/list_controller_spec.rb
index a228061dd87..76c216cd86e 100644
--- a/spec/requests/list_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/requests/list_controller_spec.rb
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ RSpec.describe ListController do
       expect(response.status).to eq(400)
     end
 
+    it "returns 200 for legit requests" do
+      get "/latest.json?exclude_category_ids%5B%5D=69&exclude_category_ids%5B%5D=70&no_definitions=true&no_subcategories=false&page=1&_=1534296100767"
+      expect(response.status).to eq(200)
+    end
+
     it "doesn't throw an error with page params as an array" do
       get "/#{Discourse.anonymous_filters[1]}", params: { page: ['7'] }
       expect(response.status).to eq(200)