diff --git a/AsyncDisplayKit/Details/ASTextNodeCoreTextAdditions.m b/AsyncDisplayKit/Details/ASTextNodeCoreTextAdditions.m
index 3ea9d596f2..55efebdce8 100644
--- a/AsyncDisplayKit/Details/ASTextNodeCoreTextAdditions.m
+++ b/AsyncDisplayKit/Details/ASTextNodeCoreTextAdditions.m
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
 #import <CoreText/CTFont.h>
 #import <CoreText/CTStringAttributes.h>
 
+#import "ASAssert.h"
+
 #pragma mark - Public
 BOOL ASAttributeWithNameIsUnsupportedCoreTextAttribute(NSString *attributeName)
 {
@@ -65,8 +67,13 @@ NSDictionary *NSAttributedStringAttributesForCoreTextAttributes(NSDictionary *co
       CTFontRef coreTextFont = (__bridge CTFontRef)coreTextValue;
       NSString *fontName = (__bridge_transfer NSString *)CTFontCopyPostScriptName(coreTextFont);
       CGFloat fontSize = CTFontGetSize(coreTextFont);
-
-      cleanAttributes[NSFontAttributeName] = [UIFont fontWithName:fontName size:fontSize];
+      UIFont *font = [UIFont fontWithName:fontName size:fontSize];
+      ASDisplayNodeCAssertNotNil(font, @"unable to load font %@ with size %f", fontName, fontSize);
+      if (font == nil) {
+        // Gracefully fail if we were unable to load the font.
+        font = [UIFont systemFontOfSize:fontSize];
+      }
+      cleanAttributes[NSFontAttributeName] = font;
     }
     // kCTKernAttributeName -> NSKernAttributeName
     else if ([coreTextKey isEqualToString:(NSString *)kCTKernAttributeName]) {