diff --git a/app/controllers/explore/posts_controller.rb b/app/controllers/explore/posts_controller.rb
index 89101f98d..a0939acb1 100644
--- a/app/controllers/explore/posts_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/explore/posts_controller.rb
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ module Explore
     private
 
     def parse_date(params)
-      date = params[:date] ? Date.parse(params[:date]) : Time.zone.today
+      date = params[:date].present? ? Date.parse(params[:date]) : Time.zone.today
       scale = params[:scale].in?(["day", "week", "month"]) ? params[:scale] : "day"
       min_date = date.send("beginning_of_#{scale}")
       max_date = date.send("next_#{scale}").send("beginning_of_#{scale}")
diff --git a/test/functional/explore/posts_controller_test.rb b/test/functional/explore/posts_controller_test.rb
index b136904a1..171235f32 100644
--- a/test/functional/explore/posts_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/functional/explore/posts_controller_test.rb
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ module Explore
           get popular_explore_posts_path
           assert_response :success
         end
+
+         should "work with a blank date" do
+          get popular_explore_posts_path(date: "")
+          assert_response :success
+         end
       end
 
       context "#curated" do