diff --git a/app/controllers/discourse_assign/assign_controller.rb b/app/controllers/discourse_assign/assign_controller.rb
index bacd8e0..647605d 100644
--- a/app/controllers/discourse_assign/assign_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/discourse_assign/assign_controller.rb
@@ -96,14 +96,11 @@ module DiscourseAssign
 
       Topic.preload_custom_fields(topics, TopicList.preloaded_custom_fields)
 
-      users = User
-        .where("users.id IN (SELECT value::int FROM topic_custom_fields WHERE name = 'assigned_to_id' AND topic_id IN (?))", topics.map(&:id))
-        .joins('join user_emails on user_emails.user_id = users.id AND user_emails.primary')
+      users = User.real
         .select(AvatarLookup.lookup_columns)
+        .where("users.id IN (SELECT value::int FROM topic_custom_fields WHERE name = 'assigned_to_id' AND topic_id IN (?))", topics.map(&:id))
         .to_a
 
-      User.preload_custom_fields(users, User.whitelisted_user_custom_fields(guardian))
-
       users = users.to_h { |u| [u.id, u] }
       topics.each do |t|
         if id = t.custom_fields[TopicAssigner::ASSIGNED_TO_ID]