diff --git a/hooks/utils/fork_utils.sh b/hooks/utils/fork_utils.sh
index f147795..436d4f8 100755
--- a/hooks/utils/fork_utils.sh
+++ b/hooks/utils/fork_utils.sh
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ get_upstream() {
       log "INFO" "contents of .github/UPSTREAM not in valid format - can contain only 1 non-comment line with git url"
       exit 1
   else
-      upstream_local=$(cat .github/UPSTREAM | grep -v '^#')
+      upstream_local=$(cat .github/UPSTREAM | grep -vE '(^#|^$)')
   fi
   log "INFO" "upstream_local is: $upstream_local"
   echo "$upstream_local"