diff --git a/src/library_pthread.js b/src/library_pthread.js
index 680a6ac9dd316..dda54a72c37e0 100644
--- a/src/library_pthread.js
+++ b/src/library_pthread.js
@@ -716,8 +716,10 @@ var LibraryPThread = {
       transferredCanvasNames = '{{{ OFFSCREENCANVASES_TO_PTHREAD }}}';
     } else
 #endif
-    transferredCanvasNames &&= UTF8ToString(transferredCanvasNames).trim();
-    transferredCanvasNames &&= transferredCanvasNames.split(',');
+    {
+      transferredCanvasNames = UTF8ToString(transferredCanvasNames).trim();
+    }
+    transferredCanvasNames = transferredCanvasNames ? transferredCanvasNames.split(',') : [];
 #if GL_DEBUG
     dbg(`pthread_create: transferredCanvasNames="${transferredCanvasNames}"`);
 #endif
diff --git a/test/other/test_pthread_hello.c b/test/other/test_pthread_hello.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..e73139f2be528
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/other/test_pthread_hello.c
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#include <assert.h>
+#include <pthread.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+void* thread_func(void* arg) {
+  printf("Hello from thread\n");
+  return NULL;
+}
+
+int main() {
+  pthread_t t;
+  pthread_create(&t, NULL, thread_func, NULL);
+  assert(t);
+  pthread_join(t, NULL);
+  printf("done\n");
+  return 0;
+}
diff --git a/test/other/test_pthread_hello.out b/test/other/test_pthread_hello.out
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d27926954cf1e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/other/test_pthread_hello.out
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Hello from thread
+done
diff --git a/test/test_other.py b/test/test_other.py
index 04c3dbc89bc93..2cfaf41a08288 100644
--- a/test/test_other.py
+++ b/test/test_other.py
@@ -12080,6 +12080,14 @@ def test_pthread_reuse(self):
     self.set_setting('PTHREAD_POOL_SIZE', 1)
     self.do_other_test('test_pthread_reuse.c')
 
+  @parameterized({
+    '': ([],),
+    'offscreen_canvas': (['-sOFFSCREENCANVAS_SUPPORT', '-sDEFAULT_LIBRARY_FUNCS_TO_INCLUDE=$GL'],),
+  })
+  @node_pthreads
+  def test_pthread_hello(self, args):
+    self.do_other_test('test_pthread_hello.c', args)
+
   @node_pthreads
   def test_pthread_relocatable(self):
     self.do_run_in_out_file_test('hello_world.c', emcc_args=['-sRELOCATABLE'])