diff --git a/babi/theme.py b/babi/theme.py
index ce112f0..2b167fe 100644
--- a/babi/theme.py
+++ b/babi/theme.py
@@ -114,11 +114,14 @@ class Theme(NamedTuple):
         for rule in rules:
             if 'scope' not in rule:
                 scopes = ['']
+            elif rule['scope'] == '':
+                scopes = ['']
             elif isinstance(rule['scope'], str):
                 scopes = [
                     s.strip()
                     # some themes have a buggy trailing/leading comma
                     for s in rule['scope'].strip().strip(',').split(',')
+                    if s.strip()
                 ]
             else:
                 scopes = rule['scope']
diff --git a/tests/theme_test.py b/tests/theme_test.py
index a4a1d8d..6cd00f8 100644
--- a/tests/theme_test.py
+++ b/tests/theme_test.py
@@ -84,6 +84,19 @@ def test_theme_scope_comma_at_beginning_and_end():
     assert theme.select(('b',)).i is True
 
 
+def test_theme_scope_internal_newline_commas():
+    # this is arguably malformed, but `cobalt2` in the wild has this issue
+    theme = Theme.from_dct({
+        'colors': {'foreground': '#cccccc', 'background': '#333333'},
+        'tokenColors': [
+            {'scope': '\n,a,\n,b,\n', 'settings': {'fontStyle': 'italic'}},
+        ],
+    })
+    assert theme.select(('d',)).i is False
+    assert theme.select(('a',)).i is True
+    assert theme.select(('b',)).i is True
+
+
 def test_theme_scope_as_A_list():
     theme = Theme.from_dct({
         'colors': {'foreground': '#cccccc', 'background': '#333333'},