diff --git a/plugin/assets/white-pixel.png b/plugin/assets/white-pixel.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bf80af2
Binary files /dev/null and b/plugin/assets/white-pixel.png differ
diff --git a/plugin/helpers.py b/plugin/helpers.py
index 01a0ed0..5879478 100644
--- a/plugin/helpers.py
+++ b/plugin/helpers.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any, Callable, Literal, Sequence, cast
 
+import requests
 import sublime
 from LSP.plugin.core.protocol import Position as LspPosition
 from LSP.plugin.core.protocol import Range as LspRange
@@ -39,7 +40,6 @@
     get_project_relative_path,
     get_view_language_id,
     set_copilot_setting,
-    simple_urlopen,
 )
 
 
@@ -95,10 +95,13 @@ def update_avatar(cls, username: str, *, size: int = 64) -> None:
             cls.clear_avatar()
             return
 
-        try:
-            data = simple_urlopen(f"https://github.com/{username}.png?size={size}")
-        except Exception as e:
-            log_error(f'Failed to fetch avatar for "{username}" because: {e}')
+        if (req := requests.get(f"https://github.com/{username}.png?size={size}")).ok:
+            data = req.content
+        # see https://github.com/TerminalFi/LSP-copilot/issues/218#issuecomment-2535522265
+        elif req.status_code == 404:
+            data = sublime.load_binary_resource(f"Packages/{PACKAGE_NAME}/plugin/assets/white-pixel.png")
+        else:
+            log_error(f'Failed to fetch avatar for "{username}" with status code {req.status_code}.')
             cls.clear_avatar()
             return
 
diff --git a/plugin/utils.py b/plugin/utils.py
index 2ee44cb..46c73bb 100644
--- a/plugin/utils.py
+++ b/plugin/utils.py
@@ -1,11 +1,9 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import contextlib
-import gzip
 import os
 import sys
 import threading
-import urllib.request
 from collections.abc import Callable, Generator, Iterable
 from functools import wraps
 from typing import Any, Mapping, Sequence, TypeVar, Union, cast
@@ -236,27 +234,3 @@ def find_index_by_key_value(items: Sequence[Mapping[_KT, _VT]], key: _KT, value:
     If not found, returns `-1`.
     """
     return first((idx for idx, item in enumerate(items) if key in item and item[key] == value), -1)
-
-
-def simple_urlopen(url: str, *, chunk_size: int = 512 * 1024) -> bytes:
-    """
-    Opens a URL and reads the data in chunks, optionally decompressing gzip-encoded content.
-
-    This function opens a connection to the specified URL and reads the response data in chunks
-    of a specified size. If the response is gzip-encoded, it decompresses the data before returning it.
-
-    Args:
-        url (str): The URL to open.
-        chunk_size (int, optional): The size of each chunk to read. Defaults to 512KB.
-
-    Returns:
-        bytes: The raw bytes of the data read from the URL. If the content was gzip-encoded,
-               it is decompressed before being returned.
-    """
-    with urllib.request.urlopen(url) as resp:
-        data = b""
-        while chunk := resp.read(chunk_size):
-            data += chunk
-        if resp.info().get("Content-Encoding") == "gzip":
-            data = gzip.decompress(data)
-    return data