diff --git a/data/lua/wml/message.lua b/data/lua/wml/message.lua
index 8f5b3629bca9..d116e3fbf495 100644
--- a/data/lua/wml/message.lua
+++ b/data/lua/wml/message.lua
@@ -24,6 +24,10 @@ local function get_image(cfg, speaker)
 		image = speaker.portrait
 	end
 
+	if image == "none" or image == nil then
+		return "", true
+	end
+
 	if image:find("~RIGHT%(%)") then
 		left_side = false
 		-- The percent signs escape the parentheses for a literal match
@@ -38,10 +42,6 @@ local function get_image(cfg, speaker)
 		image = image:gsub("~LEFT%(%)", "")
 	end
 
-	if image == "none" or image == nil then
-		return "", true
-	end
-
 	return image, left_side
 end