diff --git a/src/main/java/wtf/beatrice/hidekobot/commands/message/SayCommand.java b/src/main/java/wtf/beatrice/hidekobot/commands/message/SayCommand.java
index aa7c162..27e3751 100644
--- a/src/main/java/wtf/beatrice/hidekobot/commands/message/SayCommand.java
+++ b/src/main/java/wtf/beatrice/hidekobot/commands/message/SayCommand.java
@@ -34,8 +34,8 @@ public class SayCommand implements MessageCommand
     public void runCommand(MessageReceivedEvent event, String label, String[] args)
     {
 
-        String messageContent = "";
-        if(args.length != 0)
+        String messageContent;
+        if(args.length != 0 && !args[0].isEmpty())
         {
             messageContent = args[0];
         } else {
diff --git a/src/main/java/wtf/beatrice/hidekobot/listeners/MessageCommandListener.java b/src/main/java/wtf/beatrice/hidekobot/listeners/MessageCommandListener.java
index 84fe056..bf16c3b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/wtf/beatrice/hidekobot/listeners/MessageCommandListener.java
+++ b/src/main/java/wtf/beatrice/hidekobot/listeners/MessageCommandListener.java
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ public class MessageCommandListener extends ListenerAdapter
         {
 
             // remove first argument, which is the command label
-            argsString = argsString.replaceAll("^[\\S]+\\s+", "");
+            argsString = argsString.replaceAll("^[\\S]+\\s*", "");
             // pass all other arguments as a single argument as the first array element
             commandArgs = new String[]{argsString};
         }