diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3553beb94..b95b70c2c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 
 - Use `File.open` in `LineCache` ([#2566](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-ruby/pull/2566))
 - Update java backtrace regexp ([#2567](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-ruby/pull/2567))
+- Stop byteslicing empty strings in breadcrumbs ([#2574](https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-ruby/pull/2574))
 
 ### Miscellaneous
 
diff --git a/sentry-ruby/lib/sentry/breadcrumb.rb b/sentry-ruby/lib/sentry/breadcrumb.rb
index 4dce35df1..8aea2584a 100644
--- a/sentry-ruby/lib/sentry/breadcrumb.rb
+++ b/sentry-ruby/lib/sentry/breadcrumb.rb
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ def to_hash
     # @param message [String]
     # @return [void]
     def message=(message)
-      @message = (message || "").byteslice(0..Event::MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE_IN_BYTES)
+      @message = message ? message.byteslice(0..Event::MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE_IN_BYTES) : ""
     end
 
     # @param level [String]