diff --git a/lib/OpenQA/Schema/Result/Comments.pm b/lib/OpenQA/Schema/Result/Comments.pm
index 9c54da6d4a36..20a8a129e250 100644
--- a/lib/OpenQA/Schema/Result/Comments.pm
+++ b/lib/OpenQA/Schema/Result/Comments.pm
@@ -169,11 +169,11 @@ sub event_data ($self) {
     return $data;
 }
 
-sub extended_hash ($self) {
+sub extended_hash ($self, $render_markdown = 1) {
     return {
         id => $self->id,
         text => $self->text,
-        renderedMarkdown => $self->rendered_markdown->to_string,
+        renderedMarkdown => ($render_markdown) ? $self->rendered_markdown->to_string : undef,
         bugrefs => $self->bugrefs,
         created => $self->t_created->strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z"),
         updated => $self->t_updated->strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %z"),
diff --git a/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Controller/API/V1/Comment.pm b/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Controller/API/V1/Comment.pm
index c30e46a661bc..b14b7b5697d5 100644
--- a/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Controller/API/V1/Comment.pm
+++ b/lib/OpenQA/WebAPI/Controller/API/V1/Comment.pm
@@ -82,7 +82,8 @@ text, date of update and the user name that created the comment.
 sub list ($self) {
     my $comments = $self->_comments();
     return unless $comments;
-    $self->render(json => [map { $_->extended_hash } $comments->all]);
+    my $render_markdown = $self->param('render_markdown') // 0;
+    $self->render(json => [map { $_->extended_hash($render_markdown) } $comments->all]);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/t/16-markdown.t b/t/16-markdown.t
index 43fd2dc32e41..5ef1ce35f6d1 100644
--- a/t/16-markdown.t
+++ b/t/16-markdown.t
@@ -165,7 +165,8 @@ subtest 'bugrefs to markdown' => sub {
       '<a href="https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=9876" title="Bug referenced: fdo#9876">fdo#9876</a>',
       'right markdown for fdo';
     is bugref_to_html('jsc#9876'),
-      '<a href="https://jira.suse.de/browse/9876" title="Bug referenced: jsc#9876">jsc#9876</a>', 'right markdown for jsc';
+      '<a href="https://jira.suse.de/browse/9876" title="Bug referenced: jsc#9876">jsc#9876</a>',
+      'right markdown for jsc';
     is bugref_to_html('pio#foo#1234'),
       '<a href="https://pagure.io/foo/issue/1234" title="Bug referenced: pio#foo#1234">pio#foo#1234</a>',
       'right markdown for pio';
diff --git a/t/api/09-comments.t b/t/api/09-comments.t
index 06fbc7aabf77..5f6a6bb19c1d 100644
--- a/t/api/09-comments.t
+++ b/t/api/09-comments.t
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ sub test_comments ($in, $id) {
     };
 
     subtest 'list multiple comments' => sub {
-        $t->get_ok("/api/v1/$in/$id/comments")->status_is(200)
+        $t->get_ok("/api/v1/$in/$id/comments?render_markdown=1")->status_is(200)
           ->json_is('/0/text' => $edited_test_message, 'text correct')->json_is(
             '/0/renderedMarkdown' =>
 "<p>This is a cool test \x{2620} - <a href=\"http://open.qa\">http://open.qa</a> - this message will be\\nappended if editing works \x{2620}</p>\n",