diff --git a/activitypub.py b/activitypub.py
index 81e31492..32747015 100644
--- a/activitypub.py
+++ b/activitypub.py
@@ -438,6 +438,10 @@ class ActivityPub(User, Protocol):
                 obj = resp.json()
             except requests.JSONDecodeError:
                 _error("Couldn't decode as JSON")
+            if not isinstance(obj, dict):
+                logger.warning(f'Got non-object: {obj}')
+                return resp, None
+
             cls._hydrate(obj)
             return resp, obj
 
diff --git a/common.py b/common.py
index fb8e45ce..01670cb2 100644
--- a/common.py
+++ b/common.py
@@ -212,6 +212,10 @@ def content_type(resp):
     """Returns a :class:`requests.Response`'s Content-Type, without charset suffix."""
     type = resp.headers.get('Content-Type')
     if type:
+        # TODO: don't remove profile
+        # right now, when we remove it, and don't use it to compare against eg
+        # as2.CONTENT_TYPE_LD, we end up accepting non-AS2 JSON-LD, eg:
+        # Content-Type: application/ld+json; charset=UTF-8
         return type.split(';')[0]
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_activitypub.py b/tests/test_activitypub.py
index 5acdc3f9..aa4eb151 100644
--- a/tests/test_activitypub.py
+++ b/tests/test_activitypub.py
@@ -2864,24 +2864,34 @@ class ActivityPubUtilsTest(TestCase):
         mock_post.assert_called_once()
         self.assertEqual(302, resp.status_code)
 
-    @patch('requests.get')
+    @patch('requests.get', return_value=AS2)
     def test_fetch_direct(self, mock_get):
-        mock_get.return_value = AS2
         obj = Object(id='http://orig')
-        ActivityPub.fetch(obj)
+        self.assertTrue(ActivityPub.fetch(obj))
         self.assertEqual(AS2_OBJ, obj.as2)
 
         mock_get.assert_has_calls((
             self.as2_req('http://orig'),
         ))
 
+    @patch('requests.get')
+    def test_fetch_direct_list(self, mock_get):
+        mock_get.return_value = self.as2_resp([AS2_OBJ])
+        obj = Object(id='http://orig')
+        self.assertFalse(ActivityPub.fetch(obj))
+        self.assertIsNone(obj.as2)
+
+        mock_get.assert_has_calls((
+            self.as2_req('http://orig'),
+        ))
+
     @patch('requests.get')
     def test_fetch_direct_ld_content_type(self, mock_get):
         mock_get.return_value = requests_response(AS2_OBJ, headers={
             'Content-Type': 'application/ld+json; profile="https://www.w3.org/ns/activitystreams"',
         })
         obj = Object(id='http://orig')
-        ActivityPub.fetch(obj)
+        self.assertTrue(ActivityPub.fetch(obj))
         self.assertEqual(AS2_OBJ, obj.as2)
 
         mock_get.assert_has_calls((
@@ -2892,7 +2902,7 @@ class ActivityPubUtilsTest(TestCase):
     def test_fetch_via_html(self, mock_get):
         mock_get.side_effect = [HTML_WITH_AS2, AS2]
         obj = Object(id='http://orig')
-        ActivityPub.fetch(obj)
+        self.assertTrue(ActivityPub.fetch(obj))
         self.assertEqual(AS2_OBJ, obj.as2)
 
         mock_get.assert_has_calls((
@@ -2956,7 +2966,7 @@ class ActivityPubUtilsTest(TestCase):
         mock_get.return_value = self.as2_resp(event_article)
 
         obj = Object(id='http://orig')
-        ActivityPub.fetch(obj)
+        self.assertTrue(ActivityPub.fetch(obj))
         self.assertEqual(event_article, obj.as2)
 
     @patch('requests.get')
@@ -2969,7 +2979,7 @@ class ActivityPubUtilsTest(TestCase):
         mock_get.side_effect = [self.as2_resp(actor), self.as2_resp(featured)]
 
         obj = Object(id='http://orig')
-        ActivityPub.fetch(obj)
+        self.assertTrue(ActivityPub.fetch(obj))
         self.assertEqual({**actor, 'featured': {'foo': 'bar'}}, obj.as2)
 
         mock_get.assert_has_calls((
@@ -2986,7 +2996,7 @@ class ActivityPubUtilsTest(TestCase):
         mock_get.return_value = self.as2_resp(actor)
 
         obj = Object(id='http://orig')
-        ActivityPub.fetch(obj)
+        self.assertTrue(ActivityPub.fetch(obj))
         self.assertEqual(actor, obj.as2)
 
         mock_get.assert_called_once()