diff --git a/damus/Util/Markdown.swift b/damus/Util/Markdown.swift
index 81c45950..28139d68 100644
--- a/damus/Util/Markdown.swift
+++ b/damus/Util/Markdown.swift
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ public struct Markdown {
         let md_opts: AttributedString.MarkdownParsingOptions =
             .init(interpretedSyntax: .inlineOnlyPreservingWhitespace)
 
-        if let txt = try? AttributedString(markdown: content, options: md_opts) {
+        // TODO: escape unintentional markdown
+        let escaped = content.replacingOccurrences(of: "\\_", with: "\\\\\\_")
+        if let txt = try? AttributedString(markdown: escaped, options: md_opts) {
             return txt
         } else {
             return AttributedString(stringLiteral: content)
@@ -40,7 +42,6 @@ public struct Markdown {
             let uri = url.scheme == "http" ? Markdown.withScheme(text) : url.absoluteString
             output.replaceSubrange(range, with: "[\(text)](\(uri))")
         }
-        // TODO: escape unintentional markdown
         return Markdown.parse(content: output)
     }
 }
diff --git a/damus/Views/NoteContentView.swift b/damus/Views/NoteContentView.swift
index a8a94ce5..e1038077 100644
--- a/damus/Views/NoteContentView.swift
+++ b/damus/Views/NoteContentView.swift
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ func mention_str(_ m: Mention, profiles: Profiles) -> String {
 struct NoteContentView_Previews: PreviewProvider {
     static var previews: some View {
         let state = test_damus_state()
-        let content = "hi there https://jb55.com/s/Oct12-150217.png 5739a762ef6124dd.jpg"
+        let content = "hi there ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ https://jb55.com/s/Oct12-150217.png 5739a762ef6124dd.jpg"
         let artifacts = NoteArtifacts(content: content, images: [], invoices: [], links: [])
         NoteContentView(privkey: "", event: NostrEvent(content: content, pubkey: "pk"), profiles: state.profiles, previews: PreviewCache(), show_images: true, artifacts: artifacts, size: .normal)
     }
diff --git a/damusTests/MarkdownTests.swift b/damusTests/MarkdownTests.swift
index 7a7bb707..115c762f 100644
--- a/damusTests/MarkdownTests.swift
+++ b/damusTests/MarkdownTests.swift
@@ -62,4 +62,14 @@ class MarkdownTests: XCTestCase {
         XCTAssertEqual(md, expected)
     }
 
+    func test_parse_shrug() throws {
+        let md = Markdown.parse(content: "¯\\_(ツ)_/¯")
+        XCTAssertEqual(NSMutableAttributedString(md).string, "¯\\_(ツ)_/¯")
+    }
+
+    func test_parse_backslash() throws {
+        let md = Markdown.parse(content: "\\a")
+        XCTAssertEqual(NSMutableAttributedString(md).string, "\\a")
+    }
+
 }