diff --git a/src/runtime/printer.h b/src/runtime/printer.h
index 5512cf9de552..c1005c2ee6ca 100644
--- a/src/runtime/printer.h
+++ b/src/runtime/printer.h
@@ -44,7 +44,12 @@ class Printer {
     }
 
     Printer &operator<<(const char *arg) {
-        dst = halide_string_to_string(dst, end, arg);
+        // Crashing on NULL here is a big debugging time sink.
+        if (arg == NULL) {
+            dst = halide_string_to_string(dst, end, "<NULL>");
+        } else {
+            dst = halide_string_to_string(dst, end, arg);
+        }
         return *this;
     }