diff --git a/src/demo/whiteout.c b/src/demo/whiteout.c
index d097be5d1..7d59b0f68 100644
--- a/src/demo/whiteout.c
+++ b/src/demo/whiteout.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <string.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <pthread.h>
+#include <unictype.h>
 #include "demo.h"
 
 // Fill up the screen with as much crazy Unicode as we can, and then set a
@@ -506,6 +507,10 @@ int witherworm_demo(struct notcurses* nc){
             idx += eaten;
             continue;
           }
+          if(uc_bidi_category(wcs)){ // FIXME
+            idx += eaten;
+            continue;
+          }
           int ulen = 0;
           int r;
           if(wcwidth(wcs) <= maxx - x){