diff --git a/lib/datadog/statsd.rb b/lib/datadog/statsd.rb
index 029e593f..b20a07a1 100644
--- a/lib/datadog/statsd.rb
+++ b/lib/datadog/statsd.rb
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ def port=(port) #:nodoc:
 
     def tags=(tags) #:nodoc:
       raise ArgumentError, 'tags must be a Array<String>' unless tags.nil? or tags.is_a? Array
-      @tags = (tags || []).map {|tag| escape_tag_content(tag)}
+      @tags = (tags || []).compact.map! {|tag| escape_tag_content(tag)}
     end
 
     # Sends an increment (count = 1) for the given stat to the statsd server.
@@ -358,10 +358,11 @@ def escape_event_content(msg)
     end
 
     def escape_tag_content(tag)
-      remove_pipes(tag).gsub COMMA, BLANK
+      remove_pipes(tag.to_s).gsub COMMA, BLANK
     end
 
     def escape_tag_content!(tag)
+      tag = tag.to_s
       tag.gsub!(PIPE, BLANK)
       tag.gsub!(COMMA, BLANK)
       tag
diff --git a/spec/statsd_spec.rb b/spec/statsd_spec.rb
index 1ad4b40d..2c35250f 100644
--- a/spec/statsd_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/statsd_spec.rb
@@ -79,6 +79,22 @@ class Datadog::Statsd
     it 'should reject non-array tags' do
       lambda { @statsd.tags = 'tsdfs' }.must_raise ArgumentError
     end
+
+    it 'ignore nil tags' do
+      @statsd.tags = ['tag1', nil, 'tag2']
+      @statsd.tags.must_equal %w[tag1 tag2]
+    end
+
+    it 'converts symbols to strings' do
+      @statsd.tags = [:tag1, :tag2]
+      @statsd.tags.must_equal %w[tag1 tag2]
+    end
+
+    it 'assigns regular tags' do
+      tags = %w[tag1 tag2]
+      @statsd.tags = tags
+      @statsd.tags.must_equal tags
+    end
   end
 
   describe "#increment" do