diff --git a/internal/tengo/outmessage.tengo b/internal/tengo/outmessage.tengo
index d218088a..47c9949a 100644
--- a/internal/tengo/outmessage.tengo
+++ b/internal/tengo/outmessage.tengo
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ text := import("text")
 // start - strip irc colors 
 // if we're not sending to an irc bridge we strip the IRC colors
 if inProtocol == "irc" {
+    if OutProtocol != "irc" {
     re := text.re_compile(`\x03(?:\d{1,2}(?:,\d{1,2})?)?|[[:cntrl:]]`)
     msgText=re.replace(msgText,"")
+    }
 }
 // end - strip irc colors