diff --git a/lib/publish-gh-pages.js b/lib/publish-gh-pages.js
index b41ec75192..b31146424e 100755
--- a/lib/publish-gh-pages.js
+++ b/lib/publish-gh-pages.js
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ if (!shell.which('git')) {
 const siteConfig = require(process.cwd() + '/siteConfig.js');
 const GIT_USER = process.env.GIT_USER;
 const CURRENT_BRANCH =
-  process.env.CIRCLE_BRANCH || shell.exec('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD');
+  process.env.CIRCLE_BRANCH ||
+  shell.exec('git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD').stdout.trim();
 const ORGANIZATION_NAME =
   process.env.ORGANIZATION_NAME ||
   process.env.CIRCLE_PROJECT_USERNAME ||