diff --git a/hack/verify-bazel.sh b/hack/verify-bazel.sh
index b2f7d9102e5..7edececa042 100755
--- a/hack/verify-bazel.sh
+++ b/hack/verify-bazel.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ export KUBE_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE}")/..
 source "${KUBE_ROOT}/hack/lib/init.sh"
 
 go get -u github.com/mikedanese/gazel
-if [[ $("${GOPATH}/bin/gazel" -dry-run -root="$(kube::realpath ${KUBE_ROOT})" |& tee /dev/stderr | wc -l) != 0 ]]; then
+if [[ $("${GOPATH}/bin/gazel" -dry-run -root="$(kube::realpath ${KUBE_ROOT})" 2>&1 | tee /dev/stderr | wc -l | tr -d '[:space:]') != 0 ]]; then
   echo
   echo "BUILD files are not up to date"
   echo "Run ./hack/update-bazel.sh"