diff --git a/zeppelin-zengine/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/Note.java b/zeppelin-zengine/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/Note.java
index 89a72b517c8..f82113baafd 100644
--- a/zeppelin-zengine/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/Note.java
+++ b/zeppelin-zengine/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/notebook/Note.java
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import com.google.gson.Gson;
+import com.google.gson.JsonSyntaxException;
 
 /**
  * Binded interpreters for a note
@@ -158,10 +159,15 @@ public void addCloneParagraph(Paragraph srcParagraph) {
     Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>(srcParagraph.getConfig());
     Map<String, Object> param = new HashMap<>(srcParagraph.settings.getParams());
     Map<String, Input> form = new HashMap<>(srcParagraph.settings.getForms());
-    Gson gson = new Gson();
-    InterpreterResult result = gson.fromJson(
-        gson.toJson(srcParagraph.getReturn()),
-        InterpreterResult.class);
+    InterpreterResult result = null;
+    try {
+      Gson gson = new Gson();
+      result = gson.fromJson(
+          gson.toJson(srcParagraph.getReturn()),
+          InterpreterResult.class);
+    } catch (JsonSyntaxException e) {
+      // no-op
+    }
 
     newParagraph.setConfig(config);
     newParagraph.settings.setParams(param);