diff --git a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
index 0956c28cc..0a2c2b0ad 100644
--- a/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/users_controller.rb
@@ -80,7 +80,8 @@ class UsersController < ApplicationController
 
   private
   def prep_image_url(params)
-    url = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url].chop if APP_CONFIG[:pod_url][-1,1] == '/'
+    url = APP_CONFIG[:pod_url].dup
+    url.chop! if APP_CONFIG[:pod_url][-1,1] == '/'
     if params[:profile][:image_url].empty?
       params[:profile].delete(:image_url)
     else