diff --git a/lib/letter-avatars.js b/lib/letter-avatars.js
index bb7a9fe8b..d9000ef9e 100644
--- a/lib/letter-avatars.js
+++ b/lib/letter-avatars.js
@@ -37,11 +37,11 @@ exports.generateAvatarURL = function (name, email = '', big = true) {
   const hexDigest = hash.digest('hex')
 
   if (email !== '' && config.allowGravatar) {
-    photo = 'https://cdn.libravatar.org/avatar/' + hexDigest
+    photo = `https://cdn.libravatar.org/avatar/${hexDigest}?default=identicon`
     if (big) {
-      photo += '?s=400'
+      photo += '&s=400'
     } else {
-      photo += '?s=96'
+      photo += '&s=96'
     }
   } else {
     photo = config.serverURL + '/user/' + (name || email.substring(0, email.lastIndexOf('@')) || hexDigest) + '/avatar.svg'