diff --git a/paper-server/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/scoreboard/CraftScoreboard.java b/paper-server/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/scoreboard/CraftScoreboard.java
index 9f4f67b0bb..a0ed2c98b2 100644
--- a/paper-server/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/scoreboard/CraftScoreboard.java
+++ b/paper-server/src/main/java/org/bukkit/craftbukkit/scoreboard/CraftScoreboard.java
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ public final class CraftScoreboard implements org.bukkit.scoreboard.Scoreboard {
         Preconditions.checkArgument(name.length() <= Short.MAX_VALUE, "The name '%s' is longer than the limit of 32767 characters (%s)", name, name.length());
         Preconditions.checkArgument(board.getObjective(name) == null, "An objective of name '%s' already exists", name);
 
-        ScoreboardObjective objective = board.addObjective(name, ((CraftCriteria) criteria).criteria, CraftChatMessage.fromStringOrNull(displayName), CraftScoreboardTranslations.fromBukkitRender(renderType), true, null);
+        ScoreboardObjective objective = board.addObjective(name, ((CraftCriteria) criteria).criteria, CraftChatMessage.fromStringOrEmpty(displayName), CraftScoreboardTranslations.fromBukkitRender(renderType), true, null);
         return new CraftObjective(this, objective);
     }