diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
index 38ecf1c316c..35fefc3e3f2 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
@@ -350,7 +350,7 @@ def __init__(
         parent: Optional[trace_api.SpanContext] = None,
         resource: Resource = Resource.create({}),
         attributes: types.Attributes = None,
-        events: Sequence[Event] = None,
+        events: Sequence[Event] = (),
         links: Sequence[trace_api.Link] = (),
         kind: trace_api.SpanKind = trace_api.SpanKind.INTERNAL,
         instrumentation_info: InstrumentationInfo = None,
@@ -426,11 +426,11 @@ def attributes(self) -> types.Attributes:
 
     @property
     def events(self) -> Sequence[Event]:
-        return MappingProxyType(self._events)
+        return tuple(event for event in self._events)
 
     @property
     def links(self) -> Sequence[trace_api.Link]:
-        return MappingProxyType(self._links)
+        return tuple(link for link in self._links)
 
     @property
     def resource(self) -> Resource:
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
index 0a5c2d349ca..6b9d68e42ba 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
@@ -569,6 +569,32 @@ def test_surplus_span_attributes(self):
             self.assertEqual(len(root.attributes), max_attrs)
 
 
+class TestReadableSpan(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_links(self):
+        span = trace.ReadableSpan()
+        self.assertEqual(span.links, ())
+
+        span = trace.ReadableSpan(
+            links=[trace_api.Link(context=trace_api.INVALID_SPAN_CONTEXT)] * 2,
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(len(span.links), 2)
+        for link in span.links:
+            self.assertFalse(link.context.is_valid)
+
+    def test_events(self):
+        span = trace.ReadableSpan()
+        self.assertEqual(span.events, ())
+        
+        events = [
+            trace.Event('foo1', {'bar1': 'baz1'}),
+            trace.Event('foo2', {'bar2': 'baz2'}),
+        ]
+        span = trace.ReadableSpan(
+            events=events
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(span.events, tuple(events))
+
+
 class TestSpan(unittest.TestCase):
     # pylint: disable=too-many-public-methods