diff --git a/providers/apache/kafka/src/airflow/providers/apache/kafka/operators/produce.py b/providers/apache/kafka/src/airflow/providers/apache/kafka/operators/produce.py
index b8b28b929df84..90ab306bc04db 100644
--- a/providers/apache/kafka/src/airflow/providers/apache/kafka/operators/produce.py
+++ b/providers/apache/kafka/src/airflow/providers/apache/kafka/operators/produce.py
@@ -100,15 +100,13 @@ def __init__(
         self.synchronous = synchronous
         self.poll_timeout = poll_timeout
 
+    def execute(self, context) -> None:
         if not (self.topic and self.producer_function):
             raise AirflowException(
                 "topic and producer_function must be provided. Got topic="
                 f"{self.topic} and producer_function={self.producer_function}"
             )
 
-        return
-
-    def execute(self, context) -> None:
         # Get producer and callable
         producer = KafkaProducerHook(kafka_config_id=self.kafka_config_id).get_producer()
 
diff --git a/providers/apache/kafka/tests/unit/apache/kafka/operators/test_produce.py b/providers/apache/kafka/tests/unit/apache/kafka/operators/test_produce.py
index 92f408408aa58..b90ace4663d7e 100644
--- a/providers/apache/kafka/tests/unit/apache/kafka/operators/test_produce.py
+++ b/providers/apache/kafka/tests/unit/apache/kafka/operators/test_produce.py
@@ -20,10 +20,13 @@
 import logging
 from typing import Any
 
+import pendulum
 import pytest
 
 from airflow.models import Connection
+from airflow.models.dag import DAG
 from airflow.providers.apache.kafka.operators.produce import ProduceToTopicOperator
+from airflow.providers.common.compat.sdk import AirflowException
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -85,3 +88,18 @@ def test_operator_callable(self):
         )
 
         operator.execute(context={})
+
+    def test_execute_rejects_empty_rendered_topic(self):
+        with DAG("kafka_produce", schedule=None, start_date=pendulum.datetime(2020, 1, 1, tz="UTC")):
+            operator = ProduceToTopicOperator(
+                kafka_config_id="kafka_d",
+                topic="{{ params.topic }}",
+                producer_function=_simple_producer,
+                producer_function_args=(b"test", b"test"),
+                task_id="test",
+                synchronous=False,
+            )
+        operator.render_template_fields({"params": {"topic": ""}})
+        assert operator.topic == ""
+        with pytest.raises(AirflowException, match="topic and producer_function must be provided"):
+            operator.execute(context={})
diff --git a/scripts/ci/prek/validate_operators_init_exemptions.txt b/scripts/ci/prek/validate_operators_init_exemptions.txt
index ec735e38dde53..6adf724c9c9d9 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/prek/validate_operators_init_exemptions.txt
+++ b/scripts/ci/prek/validate_operators_init_exemptions.txt
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ providers/amazon/src/airflow/providers/amazon/aws/transfers/base.py::AwsToAwsBas
 providers/amazon/src/airflow/providers/amazon/aws/transfers/gcs_to_s3.py::GCSToS3Operator
 providers/amazon/src/airflow/providers/amazon/aws/transfers/s3_to_redshift.py::S3ToRedshiftOperator
 providers/anthropic/src/airflow/providers/anthropic/operators/agent.py::AnthropicAgentSessionOperator
-providers/apache/kafka/src/airflow/providers/apache/kafka/operators/produce.py::ProduceToTopicOperator
 providers/cncf/kubernetes/src/airflow/providers/cncf/kubernetes/operators/pod.py::KubernetesPodOperator
 providers/docker/src/airflow/providers/docker/operators/docker.py::DockerOperator
 providers/google/src/airflow/providers/google/cloud/operators/bigquery.py::BigQueryInsertJobOperator