diff --git a/include/courtroom.h b/include/courtroom.h
index 9332481..4610130 100644
--- a/include/courtroom.h
+++ b/include/courtroom.h
@@ -225,7 +225,7 @@ public:
   // selected
   // or the user isn't already scrolled to the top
   void append_ic_text(QString p_text, QString p_name = "", QString action = "",
-                      int color = 0, QDateTime timestamp = {});
+                      int color = 0, QDateTime timestamp = QDateTime::currentDateTime());
 
   // prints who played the song to IC chat and plays said song(if found on local
   // filesystem) takes in a list where the first element is the song name and
diff --git a/src/courtroom.cpp b/src/courtroom.cpp
index 9fda395..5f9d206 100644
--- a/src/courtroom.cpp
+++ b/src/courtroom.cpp
@@ -2650,8 +2650,7 @@ void Courtroom::append_ic_text(QString p_text, QString p_name, QString p_action,
       ui_ic_chatlog->textCursor().insertText(
         "[" + timestamp.toString("h:mm:ss AP") + "] ", normal);
     } else {
-      ui_ic_chatlog->textCursor().insertText(
-        "[" + QDateTime::currentDateTime().toString("h:mm:ss AP") + "] ", normal);
+      qDebug() << "could not insert invalid timestamp";
     }
   }