diff --git a/app/models/comment.rb b/app/models/comment.rb
index 52217bf..f1a43ff 100644
--- a/app/models/comment.rb
+++ b/app/models/comment.rb
@@ -235,7 +235,8 @@ class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
     
   def comment=(com)
-    self[:comment] = com.to_s.rstrip
+    # TODO: remove remove_mb4 hack
+    self[:comment] = com.to_s.rstrip.remove_mb4
     self.markeddown_comment = self.generated_markeddown_comment
   end
 
diff --git a/app/models/message.rb b/app/models/message.rb
index 49e68a7..84a5aef 100644
--- a/app/models/message.rb
+++ b/app/models/message.rb
@@ -76,6 +76,16 @@ class Message < ActiveRecord::Base
       errors.add(:recipient_username, "is not a valid user")
     end
   end
+
+  # TODO: remove remove_mb4 hack
+  def body=(b)
+    self[:body] = b.to_s.remove_mb4
+  end
+  
+  # TODO: remove remove_mb4 hack
+  def subject=(s)
+    self[:subject] = s.to_s.remove_mb4
+  end
   
   def linkified_body
     Markdowner.to_html(self.body)
diff --git a/app/models/story.rb b/app/models/story.rb
index c06b075..734e049 100644
--- a/app/models/story.rb
+++ b/app/models/story.rb
@@ -313,9 +313,15 @@ class Story < ActiveRecord::Base
     self[:url] = u
   end
 
+  # TODO: remove remove_mb4 hack
+  def description=(d)
+    self[:description] = d.to_s.remove_mb4
+  end
+
   def title=(t)
     # change unicode whitespace characters into real spaces
-    self[:title] = t.strip
+    # TODO: remove remove_mb4 hack
+    self[:title] = t.strip.remove_mb4
   end
 
   def title_as_url
diff --git a/lib/monkey.rb b/lib/monkey.rb
index 644c1f8..ae0e00f 100644
--- a/lib/monkey.rb
+++ b/lib/monkey.rb
@@ -9,3 +9,22 @@ module ActiveRecord
     end
   end
 end
+
+# XXX stupid hack to strip out utf8mb4 chars that may break mysql queries
+# TODO upgrade to mysql 5.5, convert tables to utf8mb4, upgrade mysql2 gem when
+# it supports utf8mb4, and remove this hack
+class String
+  def remove_mb4
+    t = "".force_encoding(self.encoding)
+
+    self.each_char do |c|
+      if c.bytesize == 4
+        t << " "
+      else
+        t << c
+      end
+    end
+
+    t
+  end
+end