diff --git a/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager.manifest b/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager.manifest
index 37199a3da33..ecf83f69462 100644
--- a/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager.manifest
+++ b/cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager.manifest
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@
 {% endif -%}
 
 {% set params = "--master=127.0.0.1:8080" + " " + cluster_name + " " + cluster_cidr + " " + allocate_node_cidrs + " " + service_cluster_ip_range + " " + terminated_pod_gc + " " + enable_garbage_collector + " " + cloud_provider  + " " + cloud_config + " " + service_account_key + " " + log_level + " " + root_ca_file -%}
-{% set params = params + " " feature_gates %}
+{% set params = params + " " + feature_gates -%}
 
 
 # test_args has to be kept at the end, so they'll overwrite any prior configuration
diff --git a/hack/verify-flags/exceptions.txt b/hack/verify-flags/exceptions.txt
index bb813f35b3c..5e2e7d1c62d 100644
--- a/hack/verify-flags/exceptions.txt
+++ b/hack/verify-flags/exceptions.txt
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ cluster/saltbase/salt/etcd/etcd.manifest:{% set storage_backend = pillar.get('st
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-admission-controls/init.sls:{% if 'LimitRanger' in pillar.get('admission_control', '') %}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-apiserver/kube-apiserver.manifest:{% set params = address + " " + storage_backend + " " + etcd_servers + " " + etcd_servers_overrides + " " + cloud_provider + " " + cloud_config + " " + runtime_config + " " + feature_gates + " " + admission_control + " " + target_ram_mb + " " + service_cluster_ip_range + " " + client_ca_file + basic_auth_file + " " + min_request_timeout + " " + enable_garbage_collector -%}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager.manifest:{% set params = "--master=127.0.0.1:8080" + " " + cluster_name + " " + cluster_cidr + " " + allocate_node_cidrs + " " + service_cluster_ip_range + " " + terminated_pod_gc + " " + enable_garbage_collector + " " + cloud_provider  + " " + cloud_config + " " + service_account_key + " " + log_level + " " + root_ca_file -%}
-cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager.manifest:{% set params = params + " " feature_gates %}
+cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-controller-manager/kube-controller-manager.manifest:{% set params = params + " " + feature_gates -%}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-proxy/kube-proxy.manifest:  {% set api_servers_with_port = api_servers + ":6443" -%}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-proxy/kube-proxy.manifest:  {% set api_servers_with_port = api_servers -%}
 cluster/saltbase/salt/kube-proxy/kube-proxy.manifest:  {% set cluster_cidr=" --cluster-cidr=" + pillar['cluster_cidr'] %}