diff --git a/src/backport.ts b/src/backport.ts
index 0ab986f..df53439 100644
--- a/src/backport.ts
+++ b/src/backport.ts
@@ -142,8 +142,8 @@ export const backport = (task: Task) => new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
 			addReaction(octokit, task, Reaction.HOORAY)
 		} catch (e) {
 			// Add a thumbs down reaction to the comment to indicate that we failed
-			addReaction(octokit, task, Reaction.THUMBS_DOWN)
 			try {
+				addReaction(octokit, task, Reaction.THUMBS_DOWN)
 				const failureComment = getFailureCommentBody(task, backportBranch, e?.message)
 				await commentOnPR(octokit, task, failureComment)
 			} catch (e) {
diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index 9c0b773..02dcb05 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import { createNodeMiddleware } from '@octokit/webhooks'
 import { createServer } from 'http'
-import { info, error } from 'node:console'
+import { info, error, warn } from 'node:console'
 import { Octokit } from '@octokit/rest'
 
 import { addToQueue } from './queue'
@@ -167,7 +167,12 @@ app.webhooks.on(['issue_comment.created'], async ({ payload }) => {
 		const isMerged = typeof payload.issue?.pull_request?.merged_at === 'string'
 
 		if (isClosed && !isMerged) {
-			addReaction(authOctokit, { owner, repo, commentId } as Task, Reaction.THUMBS_DOWN)
+			try {
+				addReaction(authOctokit, { owner, repo, commentId } as Task, Reaction.THUMBS_DOWN)
+			} catch (e) {
+				// Safely ignore
+				warn(`Failed to add reaction to comment: ${e.message}`)
+			}
 			error(`Ignoring comment on closed but unmerged PR ${htmlUrl}`)
 			return
 		}
@@ -251,7 +256,12 @@ app.webhooks.on(['issue_comment.created'], async ({ payload }) => {
 		} catch (e) {
 			// This should really not happen, but if it does, we want to know about it
 			if (e instanceof Error) {
-				addReaction(authOctokit, { owner, repo, commentId } as Task, Reaction.THUMBS_DOWN)
+				try {
+					addReaction(authOctokit, { owner, repo, commentId } as Task, Reaction.THUMBS_DOWN)
+				} catch (e) {
+					// Safely ignore
+					warn(`Failed to add reaction to comment: ${e.message}`)
+				}
 				error(`Failed to handle backport request: ${e.message}`)
 				return
 			}