diff --git a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff.go b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff.go
index 9fd37676fae..33a5dc64f81 100644
--- a/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff.go
+++ b/pkg/kubectl/cmd/diff.go
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ type Object interface {
 // InfoObject is an implementation of the Object interface. It gets all
 // the information from the Info object.
 type InfoObject struct {
-	Remote  runtime.Unstructured
+	Remote  *unstructured.Unstructured
 	Info    *resource.Info
 	Encoder runtime.Encoder
 	Parser  *parse.Factory
diff --git a/test/cmd/diff.sh b/test/cmd/diff.sh
index 27032db6ee9..4edd8d8121d 100755
--- a/test/cmd/diff.sh
+++ b/test/cmd/diff.sh
@@ -26,6 +26,10 @@ run_kubectl_diff_tests() {
     create_and_use_new_namespace
     kube::log::status "Testing kubectl alpha diff"
 
+    # Test that it works when the live object doesn't exist
+    output_message=$(kubectl alpha diff LOCAL LIVE -f hack/testdata/pod.yaml)
+    kube::test::if_has_string "${output_message}" 'test-pod'
+
     kubectl apply -f hack/testdata/pod.yaml
 
     # Ensure that selfLink has been added, and shown in the diff