diff --git a/lib/topic_retriever.rb b/lib/topic_retriever.rb
index 61936f1e45a..94da883250d 100644
--- a/lib/topic_retriever.rb
+++ b/lib/topic_retriever.rb
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ class TopicRetriever
     end
 
     username =
-      @opts[:author_username].present || SiteSetting.embed_by_username.presence ||
+      @opts[:author_username].presence || SiteSetting.embed_by_username.presence ||
         SiteSetting.site_contact_username.presence || Discourse.system_user.username
 
     TopicEmbed.import_remote(@embed_url, user: User.find_by(username_lower: username.downcase))