diff --git a/cmd/kubectl-moco/cmd/stop.go b/cmd/kubectl-moco/cmd/stop.go
index 7d0c86b56..03785d602 100644
--- a/cmd/kubectl-moco/cmd/stop.go
+++ b/cmd/kubectl-moco/cmd/stop.go
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ func stopClustering(ctx context.Context, name string) error {
 
 	orig := cluster.DeepCopy()
 
+	if cluster.Annotations == nil {
+		cluster.Annotations = make(map[string]string)
+	}
 	cluster.Annotations[constants.AnnClusteringStopped] = "true"
 
 	if equality.Semantic.DeepEqual(orig, cluster) {
@@ -79,6 +82,9 @@ func stopReconciliation(ctx context.Context, name string) error {
 
 	orig := cluster.DeepCopy()
 
+	if cluster.Annotations == nil {
+		cluster.Annotations = make(map[string]string)
+	}
 	cluster.Annotations[constants.AnnReconciliationStopped] = "true"
 
 	if equality.Semantic.DeepEqual(orig, cluster) {
diff --git a/controllers/mysqlcluster_controller_test.go b/controllers/mysqlcluster_controller_test.go
index f9691bc56..26ae0dbef 100644
--- a/controllers/mysqlcluster_controller_test.go
+++ b/controllers/mysqlcluster_controller_test.go
@@ -1929,6 +1929,9 @@ var _ = Describe("MySQLCluster reconciler", func() {
 		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 
 		By("setting reconcile stop annotation")
+		if cluster.Annotations == nil {
+			cluster.Annotations = map[string]string{}
+		}
 		cluster.Annotations[constants.AnnReconciliationStopped] = "true"
 		err = k8sClient.Update(ctx, cluster)
 		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
@@ -1956,6 +1959,9 @@ var _ = Describe("MySQLCluster reconciler", func() {
 		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 
 		By("setting clustering stop annotation")
+		if cluster.Annotations == nil {
+			cluster.Annotations = map[string]string{}
+		}
 		cluster.Annotations[constants.AnnClusteringStopped] = "true"
 		err = k8sClient.Update(ctx, cluster)
 		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())