diff --git a/src/TextForEvent.tsx b/src/TextForEvent.tsx
index ee57f7dacb..c6ade33cbe 100644
--- a/src/TextForEvent.tsx
+++ b/src/TextForEvent.tsx
@@ -693,9 +693,9 @@ export function hasText(ev: MatrixEvent, showHiddenEvents?: boolean): boolean {
  * @param showHiddenEvents An optional cached setting value for showHiddenEventsInTimeline
  *     to avoid hitting the settings store
  */
-export function textForEvent(
-    ev: MatrixEvent, allowJSX: boolean = false, showHiddenEvents?: boolean
-): string | JSX.Element {
+export function textForEvent(ev: MatrixEvent): string;
+export function textForEvent(ev: MatrixEvent, allowJSX: true, showHiddenEvents?: boolean): string | JSX.Element;
+export function textForEvent(ev: MatrixEvent, allowJSX = false, showHiddenEvents?: boolean): string | JSX.Element {
     const handler = (ev.isState() ? stateHandlers : handlers)[ev.getType()];
     return handler?.(ev, allowJSX, showHiddenEvents)?.() ?? '';
 }
diff --git a/src/components/views/messages/TextualEvent.tsx b/src/components/views/messages/TextualEvent.tsx
index ab25b21323..beaf605e1f 100644
--- a/src/components/views/messages/TextualEvent.tsx
+++ b/src/components/views/messages/TextualEvent.tsx
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ export default class TextualEvent extends React.Component<IProps> {
 
     public render() {
         const text = TextForEvent.textForEvent(this.props.mxEvent, true, this.context?.showHiddenEventsInTimeline);
-        if (text == null || text.length === 0) return null;
+        if (!text) return null;
         return <div className="mx_TextualEvent">{ text }</div>;
     }
 }