diff --git a/src/sentry/api/base.py b/src/sentry/api/base.py
index 7797d08868d74f..b261af9984cf7f 100644
--- a/src/sentry/api/base.py
+++ b/src/sentry/api/base.py
@@ -377,7 +377,8 @@ def dispatch(self, request: Request, *args, **kwargs) -> Response:
             self.request = request
             self.headers = self.default_response_headers  # deprecate?
 
-        sentry_sdk.set_tag("http.referer", request.META.get("HTTP_REFERER", ""))
+        if request.META.get("HTTP_REFERER"):
+            sentry_sdk.set_tag("http.referer", request.META.get("HTTP_REFERER"))
 
         start_time = time.time()