diff --git a/lib/pretty_text/shims.js b/lib/pretty_text/shims.js
index 9631d260f8a..680177914c9 100644
--- a/lib/pretty_text/shims.js
+++ b/lib/pretty_text/shims.js
@@ -20,6 +20,11 @@ __setUnicode = function(replacements) {
       }
       text = text.replace(m[0], replacement);
     }
+
+    // fixes Safari VARIATION SELECTOR-16 issue with some emojis
+    // https://meta.discourse.org/t/emojis-selected-on-ios-displaying-additional-rectangles/86132
+    text = text.replace(/\ufe0f/g, '');
+
     return text;
   };
 };
diff --git a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
index d115a69bfff..dd68a554fca 100644
--- a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
@@ -797,6 +797,10 @@ describe PrettyText do
       expect(PrettyText.cook("hello 👩🏾‍🎓")).to eq("<p>hello <img src=\"/images/emoji/twitter/woman_student/5.png?v=#{Emoji::EMOJI_VERSION}\" title=\":woman_student:t5:\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\":woman_student:t5:\"></p>")
       expect(PrettyText.cook("hello 🤷‍♀️")).to eq("<p>hello <img src=\"/images/emoji/twitter/woman_shrugging.png?v=#{Emoji::EMOJI_VERSION}\" title=\":woman_shrugging:\" class=\"emoji\" alt=\":woman_shrugging:\"></p>")
     end
+
+    it "correctly strips VARIATION SELECTOR-16 character (ufe0f) from some emojis" do
+      expect(PrettyText.cook("❤️💣")).to match(/<img src[^>]+bomb[^>]+>/)
+    end
   end
 
   describe "custom emoji" do