diff --git a/app/helpers/commits_helper.rb b/app/helpers/commits_helper.rb
index 4b35b0ac..135d002f 100644
--- a/app/helpers/commits_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/commits_helper.rb
@@ -65,4 +65,9 @@ module CommitsHelper
     end
   end
 
+  def commit_to_html commit
+    if commit.model
+      escape_javascript(render 'commits/commit', commit: commit)
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/views/merge_requests/branch_from.js.haml b/app/views/merge_requests/branch_from.js.haml
index 156b4f0d..0637fdcb 100644
--- a/app/views/merge_requests/branch_from.js.haml
+++ b/app/views/merge_requests/branch_from.js.haml
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
 :plain
-  $(".mr_source_commit").html("#{escape_javascript(render 'commits/commit', commit: @commit)}");
+  $(".mr_source_commit").html("#{commit_to_html(@commit)}");
diff --git a/app/views/merge_requests/branch_to.js.haml b/app/views/merge_requests/branch_to.js.haml
index 8a201d42..974100d1 100644
--- a/app/views/merge_requests/branch_to.js.haml
+++ b/app/views/merge_requests/branch_to.js.haml
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
 :plain
-  $(".mr_target_commit").html("#{escape_javascript(render 'commits/commit', commit: @commit)}");
-
+  $(".mr_target_commit").html("#{commit_to_html(@commit)}");