diff --git a/pkg/cmd/api/api.go b/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
index 29b29532f..7c5eeca0e 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/api/api.go
@@ -366,13 +366,13 @@ func processResponse(resp *http.Response, opts *ApiOptions, headersOutputStream
 		responseBody = io.TeeReader(responseBody, bodyCopy)
 	}
 
-	if opts.FilterOutput != "" {
+	if opts.FilterOutput != "" && serverError == "" {
 		// TODO: reuse parsed query across pagination invocations
 		err = export.FilterJSON(opts.IO.Out, responseBody, opts.FilterOutput)
 		if err != nil {
 			return
 		}
-	} else if opts.Template != "" {
+	} else if opts.Template != "" && serverError == "" {
 		// TODO: reuse parsed template across pagination invocations
 		err = template.Execute(responseBody)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go b/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
index 04da8cc29..25190ea5f 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/api/api_test.go
@@ -490,6 +490,20 @@ func Test_apiRun(t *testing.T) {
 			stdout: "not a cat",
 			stderr: ``,
 		},
+		{
+			name: "output template when REST error",
+			options: ApiOptions{
+				Template: `{{.status}}`,
+			},
+			httpResponse: &http.Response{
+				StatusCode: 400,
+				Body:       ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBufferString(`{"message": "THIS IS FINE"}`)),
+				Header:     http.Header{"Content-Type": []string{"application/json; charset=utf-8"}},
+			},
+			err:    cmdutil.SilentError,
+			stdout: `{"message": "THIS IS FINE"}`,
+			stderr: "gh: THIS IS FINE (HTTP 400)\n",
+		},
 		{
 			name: "jq filter",
 			options: ApiOptions{
@@ -504,6 +518,20 @@ func Test_apiRun(t *testing.T) {
 			stdout: "Mona\nHubot\n",
 			stderr: ``,
 		},
+		{
+			name: "jq filter when REST error",
+			options: ApiOptions{
+				FilterOutput: `.[].name`,
+			},
+			httpResponse: &http.Response{
+				StatusCode: 400,
+				Body:       ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBufferString(`{"message": "THIS IS FINE"}`)),
+				Header:     http.Header{"Content-Type": []string{"application/json; charset=utf-8"}},
+			},
+			err:    cmdutil.SilentError,
+			stdout: `{"message": "THIS IS FINE"}`,
+			stderr: "gh: THIS IS FINE (HTTP 400)\n",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, tt := range tests {