diff --git a/pkg/api/ref.go b/pkg/api/ref.go
index 8e1aa998cfe..fc6fd51fc52 100644
--- a/pkg/api/ref.go
+++ b/pkg/api/ref.go
@@ -17,18 +17,24 @@ limitations under the License.
 package api
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"regexp"
 
 	"github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/kubernetes/pkg/runtime"
 )
 
+var ErrNilObject = errors.New("Can't reference a nil object")
+
 var versionFromSelfLink = regexp.MustCompile("/api/([^/]*)/")
 
 // GetReference returns an ObjectReference which refers to the given
 // object, or an error if the object doesn't follow the conventions
 // that would allow this.
 func GetReference(obj runtime.Object) (*ObjectReference, error) {
+	if obj == nil {
+		return nil, ErrNilObject
+	}
 	jsonBase, err := runtime.FindTypeMeta(obj)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
diff --git a/pkg/api/ref_test.go b/pkg/api/ref_test.go
index 32cb5fb7d36..eca95cf6195 100644
--- a/pkg/api/ref_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/ref_test.go
@@ -80,6 +80,11 @@ func TestGetReference(t *testing.T) {
 			ref:       nil,
 			shouldErr: true,
 		},
+		"errorNil": {
+			obj:       nil,
+			ref:       nil,
+			shouldErr: true,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for name, item := range table {