diff --git a/EVENTQ_VERSION b/EVENTQ_VERSION
index 227cea2..38f77a6 100644
--- a/EVENTQ_VERSION
+++ b/EVENTQ_VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.0.0
+2.0.1
diff --git a/lib/eventq/eventq_base/message_args.rb b/lib/eventq/eventq_base/message_args.rb
index 854743a..43d7997 100644
--- a/lib/eventq/eventq_base/message_args.rb
+++ b/lib/eventq/eventq_base/message_args.rb
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ def initialize(type:, retry_attempts:, context: {}, content_type:, id: nil, sent
       @retry_attempts = retry_attempts
       @abort = false
       @drop = false
-      @context = context
+      @context = context || {}
       @content_type = content_type
       @id = id
       @sent = sent