diff --git a/git_cl.py b/git_cl.py
index 320095282..8bf9ff2b9 100755
--- a/git_cl.py
+++ b/git_cl.py
@@ -2799,7 +2799,12 @@ class _GerritChangelistImpl(_ChangelistCodereviewBase):
 
     reviewers = change_desc.get_reviewers()
     if reviewers:
-      refspec_opts.extend('r=' + email.strip() for email in reviewers)
+      # TODO(tandrii): remove this horrible hack once (Poly)Gerrit fixes their
+      # side for real (b/34702620).
+      def clean_invisible_chars(email):
+        return email.decode('unicode_escape').encode('ascii', 'ignore')
+      refspec_opts.extend('r=' + clean_invisible_chars(email).strip()
+                          for email in reviewers)
 
     if options.private:
       refspec_opts.append('draft')