diff --git a/pkg/printers/json.go b/pkg/printers/json.go
index 0f3e880efe..da34153f51 100644
--- a/pkg/printers/json.go
+++ b/pkg/printers/json.go
@@ -27,7 +27,10 @@ func NewJSONPrinter() OutputPrinter {
 // the supplied writer.
 func (j *JSONPrinter) PrintObj(obj interface{}, writer io.Writer) error {
 	if obj, ok := obj.(runtime.Object); ok {
-		return j.runtimePrinter.PrintObj(obj, writer)
+		if err := j.runtimePrinter.PrintObj(obj, writer); err == nil {
+			// if an error occurred, we may still be able to serialise using json package directly
+			return nil
+		}
 	}
 
 	b, err := json.MarshalIndent(obj, "", "    ")
diff --git a/pkg/printers/yaml.go b/pkg/printers/yaml.go
index 5fcd984cbf..631ccc0297 100644
--- a/pkg/printers/yaml.go
+++ b/pkg/printers/yaml.go
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ func NewYAMLPrinter() OutputPrinter {
 // the supplied writer.
 func (y *YAMLPrinter) PrintObj(obj interface{}, writer io.Writer) error {
 	if obj, ok := obj.(runtime.Object); ok {
-		return y.runtimePrinter.PrintObj(obj, writer)
+		if err := y.runtimePrinter.PrintObj(obj, writer); err == nil {
+			// if an error occurred, we may still be able to serialise using yaml package directly
+			return nil
+		}
 	}
 
 	b, err := yaml.Marshal(obj)