diff --git a/pkg/kncloudevents/event_dispatcher.go b/pkg/kncloudevents/event_dispatcher.go
index 9bd8ef332db..877a2067575 100644
--- a/pkg/kncloudevents/event_dispatcher.go
+++ b/pkg/kncloudevents/event_dispatcher.go
@@ -26,9 +26,10 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/cloudevents/sdk-go/v2/binding/buffering"
+
 	cloudevents "github.com/cloudevents/sdk-go/v2"
 	"github.com/cloudevents/sdk-go/v2/binding"
-	"github.com/cloudevents/sdk-go/v2/binding/buffering"
 	"github.com/cloudevents/sdk-go/v2/event"
 	cehttp "github.com/cloudevents/sdk-go/v2/protocol/http"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-retryablehttp"
@@ -249,7 +250,11 @@ func (d *Dispatcher) send(ctx context.Context, message binding.Message, destinat
 	messagesToFinish = append(messagesToFinish, responseMessage)
 
 	if config.eventTypeAutoHandler != nil {
-		d.handleAutocreate(ctx, responseMessage, config)
+		// messages can only be read once, so we need to make a copy of it
+		responseMessage, err = buffering.CopyMessage(ctx, responseMessage)
+		if err == nil {
+			d.handleAutocreate(ctx, responseMessage, config)
+		}
 	}
 
 	if config.reply == nil {
@@ -356,15 +361,8 @@ func (d *Dispatcher) executeRequest(ctx context.Context, target duckv1.Addressab
 	return ctx, responseMessage, &dispatchInfo, nil
 }
 
-func (d *Dispatcher) handleAutocreate(ctx context.Context, responseMessage binding.Message, config *senderConfig) {
-	// messages can only be read once, so we need to make a copy of it
-	messageCopy, err := buffering.CopyMessage(ctx, responseMessage)
-	if err != nil {
-		return
-	}
-	defer responseMessage.Finish(nil)
-
-	responseEvent, err := binding.ToEvent(ctx, messageCopy)
+func (d *Dispatcher) handleAutocreate(ctx context.Context, msg binding.Message, config *senderConfig) {
+	responseEvent, err := binding.ToEvent(ctx, msg)
 	if err != nil {
 		return
 	}