diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/Editors/ContentController.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/Editors/ContentController.cs
index 71772bd9c5..12047b628b 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/Editors/ContentController.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/Editors/ContentController.cs
@@ -1201,6 +1201,10 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web.Editors
                     variant.Publish = false;
             }
 
+            //At this stage all variants might have failed validation which means there are no cultures flagged for publishing!
+            var culturesToPublish = cultureVariants.Where(x => x.Publish).Select(x => x.Culture).ToArray();
+            canPublish = canPublish && culturesToPublish.Length > 0;
+
             if (canPublish)
             {
                 //try to publish all the values on the model - this will generally only fail if someone is tampering with the request
@@ -1210,8 +1214,6 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web.Editors
 
             if (canPublish)
             {
-                var culturesToPublish = cultureVariants.Where(x => x.Publish).Select(x => x.Culture).ToArray();
-
                 //proceed to publish if all validation still succeeds
                 var publishStatus = Services.ContentService.SaveAndPublish(contentItem.PersistedContent, culturesToPublish, Security.CurrentUser.Id);
                 wasCancelled = publishStatus.Result == PublishResultType.FailedPublishCancelledByEvent;