diff --git a/lib/routes/apnews/utils.ts b/lib/routes/apnews/utils.ts
index c8b10545e..40f4714e5 100644
--- a/lib/routes/apnews/utils.ts
+++ b/lib/routes/apnews/utils.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export function fetchArticle(item) {
                 pubDate: parseDate(ldjson.datePublished),
                 updated: parseDate(ldjson.dateModified),
                 description: $('div.RichTextStoryBody').html(),
-                category: [`section:${$("meta[property='article:section']").attr('content')}`, ...ldjson.keywords],
+                category: [`section:${$("meta[property='article:section']").attr('content')}`, ...(ldjson.keywords ?? [])],
                 guid: $("meta[name='brightspot.contentId']").attr('content'),
                 author: ldjson.author,
                 ...item,