diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2f7105b..7835751 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ If the filename ends with `.url` suffix, the content will be processed as a URL
 | `SCRIPT`                   | Absolute path to shell script to execute after a configmap got reloaded. It runs before calls to `REQ_URI`                                                                                                                                                                                                                          | false    | -                                         | string  |
 | `ERROR_THROTTLE_SLEEP`     | How many seconds to wait before watching resources again when an error occurs                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       | false    | `5`                                       | integer |
 | `SKIP_TLS_VERIFY`          | Set to `true` to skip tls verification for kube api calls                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           | false    | -                                         | boolean |
-| `REQ_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY `     | Set to `true` to skip tls verification for all HTTP requests (except the Kube API server, which are controlled by `SKIP_TLS_VERIFY`). Note that the latest 'requests' library no longer offer a way to disable this via env vars; however a custom truststore can be set via REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE.                                    | false    | -                                         | boolean |
+| `REQ_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY`     | Set to `true` to skip tls verification for all HTTP requests (except the Kube API server, which are controlled by `SKIP_TLS_VERIFY`). Note that the latest 'requests' library no longer offer a way to disable this via env vars; however a custom truststore can be set via REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE.                                    | false    | -                                         | boolean |
 | `UNIQUE_FILENAMES`         | Set to true to produce unique filenames where duplicate data keys exist between ConfigMaps and/or Secrets within the same or multiple Namespaces.                                                                                                                                                                                   | false    | `false`                                   | boolean |
 | `DEFAULT_FILE_MODE`        | The default file system permission for every file. Use three digits (e.g. '500', '440', ...)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | false    | -                                         | string  |
 | `KUBECONFIG`               | if this is given and points to a file or `~/.kube/config` is mounted k8s config will be loaded from this file, otherwise "incluster" k8s configuration is tried.                                                                                                                                                                    | false    | -                                         | string  |
diff --git a/src/helpers.py b/src/helpers.py
index 53e8231..d5ad172 100755
--- a/src/helpers.py
+++ b/src/helpers.py
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@
 # and most likely the TLS cert offered by that will have an external URL in it.
 # Note that the latest 'requests' library no longer offer a way to disable this via
 # env vars; however a custom truststore can be set via REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE
-REQ_TLS_VERIFY = False if os.getenv("REQ_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY ") == "true" else None
+REQ_TLS_VERIFY = False if os.getenv("REQ_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY") == "true" else None
 
 # Tune default timeouts as outlined in
 # https://github.com/kubernetes-client/python/issues/1148#issuecomment-626184613