diff --git a/event.go b/event.go
index e451f5d..aba156e 100644
--- a/event.go
+++ b/event.go
@@ -233,6 +233,9 @@ func (e *Event) Hex(key string, val []byte) *Event {
 // No sanity check is performed on b; it must not contain carriage returns and
 // be valid JSON.
 func (e *Event) RawJSON(key string, b []byte) *Event {
+	if e == nil {
+		return e
+	}
 	e.buf = append(json.AppendKey(e.buf, key), b...)
 	return e
 }