diff --git a/include/emp/web/Attributes.hpp b/include/emp/web/Attributes.hpp
index 30e34dc7e..dd4cab39c 100644
--- a/include/emp/web/Attributes.hpp
+++ b/include/emp/web/Attributes.hpp
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ namespace web {
         MAIN_THREAD_EM_ASM({
             var name = UTF8ToString($0);
             var value = UTF8ToString($1);
-            emp_i.cur_obj.setAttribute(name, value);
+            if (emp_i.cur_obj) emp_i.cur_obj.setAttribute(name, value);
           }, attr_pair.first.c_str(), attr_pair.second.c_str());
 #else
         std::cout << "Setting '" << widget_id << "' attribute '" << attr_pair.first
diff --git a/include/emp/web/Listeners.hpp b/include/emp/web/Listeners.hpp
index 22798c9d2..e97bc5e63 100644
--- a/include/emp/web/Listeners.hpp
+++ b/include/emp/web/Listeners.hpp
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ namespace web {
 #ifdef __EMSCRIPTEN__
         MAIN_THREAD_EM_ASM({
           var name = UTF8ToString($0);
-          emp_i.cur_obj.addEventListener(name, function(evt) {
+          if (emp_i.cur_obj) emp_i.cur_obj.addEventListener(name, function(evt) {
               emp.Callback($1, evt);
           });
         }, event_pair.first.c_str(), event_pair.second);
diff --git a/include/emp/web/Style.hpp b/include/emp/web/Style.hpp
index 2e41370d6..45fe95940 100644
--- a/include/emp/web/Style.hpp
+++ b/include/emp/web/Style.hpp
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ namespace web {
         MAIN_THREAD_EM_ASM({
             var name = UTF8ToString($0);
             var value = UTF8ToString($1);
-            emp_i.cur_obj.style[name] = value;
+            if (emp_i.cur_obj) emp_i.cur_obj.style[name] = value;
           }, css_pair.first.c_str(), css_pair.second.c_str());
 #else
         std::cout << "Setting '" << widget_id << "' attribute '" << css_pair.first
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ namespace web {
 #ifdef EMSCRIPTEN
         EM_ASM_ARGS({
             var name = UTF8ToString($0);
-            emp_i.cur_obj.addClass( name );
+            if (emp_i.cur_obj) emp_i.cur_obj.classList.add(name);
           }, class_.c_str());
 #else
         std::cout << "Adding class to '" << widget_id << "': '" << class_;