diff --git a/pkg/source/source.go b/pkg/source/source.go
index 72e71e852a..c4a74af02a 100644
--- a/pkg/source/source.go
+++ b/pkg/source/source.go
@@ -274,7 +274,13 @@ func (cs *Channel) syncLoop(ctx context.Context) {
 			// Close destination channels
 			cs.doStop()
 			return
-		case evt := <-cs.Source:
+		case evt, stillOpen := <-cs.Source:
+			if !stillOpen {
+				// if the source channel is closed, we're never gonna get
+				// anything more on it, so stop & bail
+				cs.doStop()
+				return
+			}
 			cs.distribute(evt)
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/source/source_test.go b/pkg/source/source_test.go
index 1a0c6146d6..2726b6cfd0 100644
--- a/pkg/source/source_test.go
+++ b/pkg/source/source_test.go
@@ -446,6 +446,50 @@ var _ = Describe("Source", func() {
 
 				close(done)
 			})
+			It("should stop when the source channel is closed", func() {
+				q := workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter(), "test")
+				// if we didn't stop, we'd start spamming the queue with empty
+				// messages as we "received" a zero-valued GenericEvent from
+				// the source channel
+
+				By("creating a channel with one element, then closing it")
+				ch := make(chan event.GenericEvent, 1)
+				evt := event.GenericEvent{}
+				ch <- evt
+				close(ch)
+
+				By("feeding that channel to a channel source")
+				src := &source.Channel{Source: ch}
+				Expect(inject.StopChannelInto(ctx.Done(), src)).To(BeTrue())
+
+				processed := make(chan struct{})
+				defer close(processed)
+
+				err := src.Start(ctx, handler.Funcs{
+					CreateFunc: func(event.CreateEvent, workqueue.RateLimitingInterface) {
+						defer GinkgoRecover()
+						Fail("Unexpected CreateEvent")
+					},
+					UpdateFunc: func(event.UpdateEvent, workqueue.RateLimitingInterface) {
+						defer GinkgoRecover()
+						Fail("Unexpected UpdateEvent")
+					},
+					DeleteFunc: func(event.DeleteEvent, workqueue.RateLimitingInterface) {
+						defer GinkgoRecover()
+						Fail("Unexpected DeleteEvent")
+					},
+					GenericFunc: func(evt event.GenericEvent, q2 workqueue.RateLimitingInterface) {
+						defer GinkgoRecover()
+
+						processed <- struct{}{}
+					},
+				}, q)
+				Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+
+				By("expecting to only get one event")
+				Eventually(processed).Should(Receive())
+				Consistently(processed).ShouldNot(Receive())
+			})
 			It("should get error if no source specified", func(done Done) {
 				q := workqueue.NewNamedRateLimitingQueue(workqueue.DefaultControllerRateLimiter(), "test")
 				instance := &source.Channel{ /*no source specified*/ }
@@ -461,7 +505,6 @@ var _ = Describe("Source", func() {
 				Expect(err).To(Equal(fmt.Errorf("must call InjectStop on Channel before calling Start")))
 				close(done)
 			})
-
 		})
 		Context("for multi sources (handlers)", func() {
 			It("should provide GenericEvents for all handlers", func(done Done) {