diff --git a/heka/files/lua/filters/gse_cluster_filter.lua b/heka/files/lua/filters/gse_cluster_filter.lua
index 5b6402c..d1fef2b 100644
--- a/heka/files/lua/filters/gse_cluster_filter.lua
+++ b/heka/files/lua/filters/gse_cluster_filter.lua
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@
         return -1, "Cannot find alarms in the AFD/GSE message"
     end
 
+    -- "hostname" is nil here when the input message is a GSE message, so nil
+    -- is not an error condition here
+    local hostname = afd.get_entity_name('hostname')
+
     local cluster_ids = gse.find_cluster_memberships(member_id)
 
     -- update all clusters that depend on this entity