diff --git a/r2/r2/lib/utils/utils.py b/r2/r2/lib/utils/utils.py
index 67893c153..b35c4be31 100644
--- a/r2/r2/lib/utils/utils.py
+++ b/r2/r2/lib/utils/utils.py
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ def get_title(url):
         opener = urlopen(url, timeout=15)
         text = opener.read(1024)
         opener.close()
-        bs = BeautifulSoup(text)
+        bs = BeautifulSoup(text, convertEntities=BeautifulSoup.HTML_ENTITIES)
         if not bs:
             return
 
@@ -260,7 +260,7 @@ def get_title(url):
         if not title_bs or not title_bs.string:
             return
 
-        return title_bs.string.encode('utf-8')
+        return title_bs.string.encode('utf-8').strip()
 
     except:
         return None